


Kingdom Hearts 3: Let's Start a Riot

by JoeiMarie21



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-08
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-18 03:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 40,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/875318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeiMarie21/pseuds/JoeiMarie21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*This is set after KH3D major Spoiler alert.* Sora is on his own trying to find out just who he has sharing his body and what they have to do with the upcoming war,leaving Riku to train Kairi and Lea under Master Yen Sid's care. This adventure changes from Riku's story, to Sora's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

               “Riku, are you sure you want to let Kairi do this?” King Mickey asked looking up at his silver-haired friend.

               “Shouldn’t you be asking Kairi that? Mickey this was her choice, I think she is pretty sure.” Riku looked down at the mouse, and then over his red- headed friend Kairi. “You feel still feel comfortable with this, don’t you Kai?”

               “Yes Riku, I’m sure. I don’t want you all to have to protect me forever; I want to be able to defend myself when I need to. And I want to help you and Sora.” She looked back at Riku defiantly. Then at King Mickey and Master Yen Sid and said, “I thought I proved I could do this in The World That Never Was, when Riku handed me my Keyblade and I fought off some Heartless.”

               The gray haired master looked at her from his chair and said, “Yes, Kairi, you did prove yourself, but there is more to becoming a Keyblade master than killing a few Heartless. Your determination may not be enough when you have to face a real person and hurt them, your kind nature will keep you from hurting them. For this reason, I cannot let you become a Keyblade master.” Kairi stood there, mouth agape staring at the old master, she felt angry and hurt, but deep down she knew he was right, but she wasn’t going to let him know it.

               She began to say something but was interrupted by another red-head who had snuck in when he heard what they had been discussing. “Lighten up Master I think she can handle it. She fought back fairly well when I captured her, granted it didn’t _do_ much, but with the right training, it could have.” Kairi looked wide-eyed at the red-head who entered the room, she did recognize him.

               “You! You were the Nobody who kidnapped me! What are you doing here Axel?!” Kairi asked as she still looked at him shocked he was even there. She subconsciously noticed he didn’t have those purple tattoos under his eyes anymore and that he was wearing jeans and a white tank top with a sleeveless red vest over it, and a yellow and brown checkered scarf hanging from his left front pocket. Even with these changes, she couldn’t deny that it was him.

               “Axel? No my name is Lea, Got it memorized?” he said pressing is finger to his temple, much like he had when Kairi had first met him, “And as to what I am doing here, well the same thing you are, training to become a Keyblade master.”

               “Wh-what? Lea? But you just said you were the one who had captured me, why is your name different, and what happened to the tattoos under your eyes?” Kairi was getting more confused as the red-head just stared at her then began to speak again.

               “Well, you realized my tattoos were gone, I’m so flattered Princess. Axel was my Nobody’s name, I’m Lea, I’m a Somebody again, I have my heart back.” Lea continued to speak calmly as Kairi continued to stare at him confused.

               Kairi decided to gather her thoughts before speaking again. Just as she was about to say something Riku spoke, “Axe-Er, Lea, maybe you should wait back in the training room, we’ll explain to Kairi what you’re doing here.” Lea looked like he wanted to protest, but started to retreat anyways.

               “Wait! No if I’m going to find out, wouldn’t it be better to hear from him?” Everyone stared at Kairi a little shocked as she said this; she was even a bit surprised. Riku turned to her and asked, “Well are you sure Kai? His story sorta works its way into mine and Sora’s, so I was just going to tell you when I was telling you about our Mark of Mastery.”

               Kairi thought about that, and then looked at Lea and she noticed that he looked a little disappointed he couldn’t tell his own part of the story. _Wait, why do I care? Shouldn’t I hate him; he kidnapped me and tried to hurt Sora. But maybe he had a good reason, maybe I’II ask him._ “Well why don’t you let him stay and tell his part when you come to it?” Riku didn’t look so shocked when she said this, he knew Kairi always trying to make people happy. She had obviously seen the disappointed look on his face.

               “Alright that’s fair, why don’t we all go sit outside and start catching you up then?” As he said this, he started walking out. He was followed by Kairi, Lea, King Mickey, and Donald and Goofy, who had been sitting silently watching the exchange.

               As they left to go outside, Master Yen Sid couldn’t help but wonder why Kairi wasn’t very angry at Lea. _Oh well,_ he thought, _maybe she is just easy to forgive._


	2. Chapter 2

As they sat down on the lawn out front of the Mysterious Tower, Kairi’s thoughts were traveling a mile a minute, she wanted to know everything. Especially why Sora is training alone now. She snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Riku yell, “Hello, Earth to Kairi!” She looked at her silver- haired friend and apologized.

               “Well now that air-head is back we can tell our story.” Riku gave her a smirk and chuckled as she threw grass at him. Lea couldn’t help but laugh as the two started an all-out grass war. “Hey Didledopes! I think we should get on with it.” The red-head said giving them a lazy smirk. Riku’s response was to throw some grass on him to. He easily made it spontaneously combust in mid-air earning a laugh from Riku. “Show off.” The silver-haired boy then turned back to Kairi and said, “Alright, let’s get on with it.”

               Riku started to tell Kairi about their Mark of Mastery, from beginning to end. Lea snuck in some comments, and looked very happy as he got to tell how he saved Sora. “Then as Geezernort was about to shoot Sora with some weird looking stuff, I show up blocking it with my chakram! Oh, and some fire of course! And then one of the cloaked figures attacked me and his hood fell of and it was……” Lea paused, his excited demeanor fading into a mixture of confusion and hurt as he realized that he had gotten so caught up in is story that he almost forgot about the bluenette that was in that cloak.

               Riku quickly took the story back over seeing Lea’s discomfort, he didn’t understand, but he continued anyway. Kairi listened, but making a mental note to ask Lea who it was later. A few minutes later Riku had finished telling his story, he told right up to the moment Kairi arrived. Kairi looked at him and said, “Oh my gosh Riku, you and Sora both had to go through all that and still made it out in one piece?”

               Riku look at the red-headed girl and said, “Oh come on Kai, it isn’t that much of a surprise is it?” He put his hand over his heart feigning hurt. “Hahah no Riku I guess it isn’t, but it is still hard to believe that Xehanort went that far.” Then she turned to Lea, “Can I ask you a question?”

               The red-head looked at her and smirked, “You just did Princess but go ahead and ask me another.” He kept his smirk on. _Please don’t let her ask about-_

               “Why did you save Sora?” _Oh thank God she asked about that little derp._ Lea took in a breath and decided to tell them the truth, seeing that Riku was obviously curious as well. He then looked over to Mickey and co. _God even the peanut animal section looks curious._ Quit being so bitter, just because you lost your friends doesn’t mean you can’t try and be happy. _What’s this I hear? My sane conscience telling me what to do? Mmmmm better to ignore it, but I can’t stop this funny feeling I have that my sane conscience, let’s call him…….. or you know what, it nags like a woman. Ok, let’s call her Hayley. Maybe Hayley might be a bit right. Damn, they’re still waiting for an answer aren’t they?_

“Well, I saved Sora because really, I had made a promise to Roxas. I promised that I would always be there, to bring him back. By saving Sora, I kept my promise.” The red-head frowned for a moment when he got a pained feeling in his chest. _God dammit, no heart, no hurting me today please._

The smaller female red-head look at Lea some more, another question dancing on her tongue, but didn’t want to push anything seeing the small frown on his face. Thankfully, Riku asked something next. “Why did you kidnap Kairi before?” Kairi was surprised by his boldness. She looked over at Lea, the red-head looked a little taken aback by the question, but then opened his mouth to reply. He never got the chance.

Just then, Master Yen Sid came out and told them that they should get back to training. Lea smirked and said, “Sorry, looks like we don’t have time for a Q&A.” He then turned to Mickey, “Will you show me how to do those magic spells again?” The mouse looked at Lea and smiled, “Of course I will!” He walked back in the tower followed by Lea, Donald, and Goofy. Riku and Kairi stayed back.

“So are you ok being around him?” Riku asked his red-head friend. _Come on, this is Kairi! If she isn’t ok with she will just lie and say she is. But then she might actually be ok with it._ Riku snapped out of his thoughts as Kairi started talking.

“I think I’m gunna be just fine Riku, he seems like he is different now. And who knows maybe he was like this as Axel to. People go to great lengths for their friends Riku.” As she talked she also started to walk inside. “So I’m willing to give him a second chance.” _Why, he tried to hurt Sora!!!! You should hate him!_ But he did save Sora.

As Kairi was battling with her conscience, Riku was halfway up the stairs. “Hurry up Kai! We’re gunna start you’re training!”

_Well this could be interesting._ Kairi thought as she ran up the stairs after Riku.


	3. Chapter 3

_The blue-haired girl looked at the two young boys in front of her. “Do you two mind telling me your names?” She laughed at the enthusiasm from the young brunette in front of her._

_He raised his hand real high and said, “I’m Sora!” The girl laughed at his excitement once more, then turning her attention to the silver-haired boy._

_“And you?” She asked him. The small silver-haired boy looked at her, keeping his sincere look._

_“Riku.” The girl was silent for a while as Sora and Riku looked at each other._

_“Sora, do you like Riku?” Sora looked at Riku, then back at the girl and he smiled._

_“Of course I do, he’s my best friend!”_

_“Good, So then if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost- or say he starts wandering down a dark path alone- you make sure to stay with him, and keep him safe.” Sora and Riku turned to look at each other. “That’s your job Sora, and I’m counting on you to do it, okay?” She patted the two boy’s heads, and watched as they walked away._

Sora closed his eyes as he remembered the memory he had received during his Mark of Mastery. “What was your name?!” The brunette said aloud as he leaned against a building of Traverse Town. It had been restored to the Realm of Light after him and Riku returned from their Mark of Mastery. He had been roaming around here for a while, thinking of the blue-haired girl he had had the memory of. And who was the tall brunette boy he had seen with her in the Realm of Sleep, and why had they called him Ven? He sighed as he remembered the aching feeling he had gotten in his heart when he saw the two.

               _Was it really my heart, or is it one that I’m keeping prisoner like the young Xehanort had said? Maybe this Ven was friends with the tall brunette boy and the blue-haired girl. But how did I get Ven’s heart in the first place? Gah! I’m so confused!!!!!! Maybe I should-_ Before he could finish his thought, a figure appeared wearing a black hooded cloak.

               Sora jumped to his feet summoning his Keyblade, preparing for a fight. The figure put his hands up signally that he didn’t wish to fight, only for Sora to follow him. Sora hesitated until the figure put his hood down and Sora saw a blue- haired man with soft blue-green eyes. Sora recognized him. “Saix?! What are you doing here?!” Sora slowly began to back down the opposite end of the street trying to put some distance between him and the bluenette. He did take notice that Saix’s eyes weren’t that bright yellow color anymore.

               “Please, don’t be alarmed, I am here to help you. Please follow me, I don’t have much time.” The bluenette said taking another step towards Sora. Sora stopped backing away looking at the bluenette curiously.

Then he shouted, “Give me one good reason I should trust you, you have done nothing but trick me in the past! Why are you helping me now?!” The bluenette looked at him calmly before taking another step towards him.

“Because I can give you the answers you want. Please decide, I don’t have much time.” The blue-haired man said the last part in a bit of a hurry. Sora wanted to believe Saix, but he couldn’t trust him. _What if he isn’t lying though, his eyes aren’t yellow anymore like Xehanort’s._ Sora made his decision.

Sora walked towards the bluenette stopping right in front of him as he said, “Alright Saix, I’ll follow you, but if this is a trick, you’re gunna be sorry!” The man looked relieved to hear that the brunette would follow him, he opened a dark corridor.

“I promise you Sora, this is no trick. Oh, and my name is Isa, not Saix.” He walked into the dark corridor leaving Sora to wonder still if it was a trap. _Isa? Was- or well is that his somebody’s name? Oh well, I suppose I’ll find out soon._ He followed Isa into the dark corridor wondering what he had gotten himself into.


	4. Chapter 4

Sora walked into the dark corridor shocked to see Isa waiting for him, they were in Castle Oblivion. They were in a room Sora didn’t recognize, it was pure white, and had glowing chains on the walls, each of the chains lead from a throne in the middle of the room to a strange heart symbol on the wall. Sora recognized the symbol; it was the same one the blue-haired girl had worn with the straps on her chest. Finally, Sora’s eyes rested on the throne in the center of the room.

               He stared, eyes growing wide as he walked towards the throne. In the throne, there was an exact copy of Roxas! _What? Why does he look like Roxas?! It can’t be Roxas, can it?_

 ** _Nope, I’m still right here._** Sora jumped has he heard Roxas’ voice. _Roxas? You’ve never spoken to me like this before._ Sora waited for a reply, but it didn’t come. _Uh, weird._ He continued to stare at the Roxas Copy. He had spiky blond hair and had his eyes been open, Sora was sure they would have been blue just like Roxas’. He wore a jacket that was white on the right side and black on the left with a red collar. He also noticed that he wore the same symbol over his chest just like the blue-haired girl. There was a green and gold piece of armor covering his belly. He had black and white pants on that stopped just before the ankle, much like Sora’s. He also had on gray and black shoes that had the same green metal on the top around the ankle. On his upper left arm was another piece of green armor.

               “Who are you?” Sora whispered quietly, “And why are you sleeping?” Sora hadn’t realized that while he had been looking at the boy, he had walked right up in front of him.

               “You know his name Sora, you just need to dig a little deeper. Once you know his name, you may be able to learn the answers to all of your other questions. I am sorry I have to leave before……. Well I just gotta go okay? I hope you find your answers.” Isa would have liked to stay with Sora and told him all that he knew, but he had to leave. He could already feel _it_ coming back.

               “Wait, Sai- Er Isa, why did you help me, aren’t you one of Xehanort’s puppets?” Sora started to walk over to the bluenette. He stopped right in front of him waiting patiently for and answer which was very hard for him. He was bouncing from foot to foot like he was doing the Potty dance. Isa had to suppress a laugh.

 _Do I tell him the truth? Yes I suppose that is better, in case he sees me when_ it _takes over again._ “Yes Sora I suppose I am a puppet, but I have moments when Xehanort isn’t clouding my judgment, like right now, but soon the monster will take over and I have to leave before it does or I may hurt you.”

               “What is it like when Xehanort takes back over?” Sora asked quietly feeling sorry for Isa, he was a prisoner in his own body, his own heart and mind. Sora waited for a few seconds for a reply then quietly said, “Isa, what is it like?”

               Isa look down at the small brunette and whispered, “It’s like being drunk, my judgment and senses are clouded, but I am just aware enough that I know that I’m hurting people. He made sure of that just to torture me.” Sora looked at the bluenette, and without thinking, he hugged him. Isa tensed definitely not expecting the small boy to hug him, but hugged back thankful for the gesture.

               Sora pulled away saying, “Sorry, but you just looked so sad, I couldn’t help it.”

               “That’s fine,” said Isa, “After all, that’s what friends do right?” Sora looked at him a little surprised Sora considered them friends. Isa noticed Sora’s confusion, “What’s wrong?”

               “Nothing, it’s just that I can’t believe you called us friends, I mean I did kill you.” Sora said the last part looking down at the floor. “Sorry for that by the way.”

               Isa smiled. “Don’t be sorry Sora, it was the best thing anyone has done for me in a long while. Only after gaining my heart back could I have moments like this, without Xehanort. Thank you.” Isa felt a sharp pain in his head. _Oh no, I have to hurry, I don’t want to hurt Sora._ “Sorry but I really have to go.”

               Sora looked at him and smiled, “Okay but Isa, when you have another chance would you come back here, I would like to know more about you. Oh and his name is Ven isn’t it?” Sora said referring to the blond.

               “Yes Sora, that’s Ven. And if I get another chance, I’ll come back here.” Isa waved goodbye as he walked through a dark corridor and out of Sora’s sight.

               _Well that was definitely unexpected._ Sora thought once he was alone. He looked back at Ven. _So I know your name, what now?_ He walked back over to him and sat down. He closed his eyes trying to make any connection with the boy. He now knew that Ven’s heart was in his body, he didn’t know exactly why, but it explains why he saw Riku and Kairi change into the other two, Ven’s friends, in the Realm of Sleep.

               Sora focused very hard for the better part of an hour, but came up with nothing. Shortly after giving up, his stomach growled. He looked around looking for an exit, and realizing that there wasn’t one. _Oh no, what if this was a trap and now I can’t get out._ He panicked slightly and then saw a brown bag in the corner of the room. He got up and walked over to it. There was a note on top.

               _Sora don’t panic, there is a way out. Right where I left this bag there is an opening you can get through. Don’t worry that you can’t see it, just trust that it is there and go forward, but don’t forget where it is or else you won’t be able to get back in this room. I hope the things I left you can last until I return again. Isa_

Sora read the note and then looked in the bag. There were half a dozen apples, some bananas, and a loaf of bread, grapes and 7 water bottles. _Jeez Isa, where did you score all of this?_ Sora took an apple out of the bag and decided to explore. He went through the wall just as easily as Isa said he would, he put the bag in front of the wall where the opening is so he wouldn’t lose it.

               He hadn’t been in Castle Oblivion before, well not any time that he could remember, so he started wandering. He opened doors finding rooms of all different sizes, some with just a few furnishings, and everything was stark white. The final room on the floor was a bit small and had a bed in it. Sora yawned; _Maybe some sleep would be nice._ He thought as he closed the door and laid on the bed letting sleep over take him. 


	5. Chapter 5

“Okay, I have a question.” The small red-head said as she ate lunch with Riku and Lea. They sat in a small room that they used for a kitchen, it had a few cupboards on the walls above the counter and a fridge. It was stocked with food. They had been staying there for a week and it seemed to magically stock itself.  Kairi had begun her training, and was getting better every day. She progressed with magic and far range attacks. _Of course she is going to need a lot more close up practice if she is gunna stand a chance when we face Xehanort, all freaking 13 of them._ Riku thought a little wryly.

               “What’s your question Princess?” Lea said as he devoured his fourth sandwich. The sandwich had to be the weirdest thing Riku had ever seen, it had peanut butter on it and fried bananas and even _pickles._ Riku had been surveying Lea like this for the past week trying to learn more about him. He wasn’t like Kairi, he couldn’t just ask the questions that he had, he wasn’t that bold. _I would much rather just sit and silently watch getting the information I want._ Riku thought this as he watched Lea get up to make yet another sandwich, this one had turkey, ham, and cheese, and mustard.

               “Are you trying to get rid of your girlish figure?” Riku said jokingly. Lea laughed and stared to say something, but Kairi was speaking.

               “How did you get your heart back, and what other members of the Organization got their hearts back?” Kairi looked at Lea. _I’ve learned a lot about him this past week, just by asking questions, he’s surprisingly truthful. Well that is if he answered all of my questions truthfully. He is still dodging when I ask him who it was who attacked him when he saved Sora, but maybe he’ll tell me if-_ Her thought was interrupted by Lea talking.

               “Well the old man said that when a Nobody dies and the Nobody’s heartless is also dead, then the original person comes back. He said it was something about my heart being free and my body being free so they came back together again and made little old me again. As for what other members are like me. Well Vexen, the creepy scientist with long blond hair, the one who made a replica of you.” He said pointing at Riku. “His name is Even now. Lexaeus too, the big guy with brown curly hair, his name is Aeleus. Xaldin, the big guy with long black hair, his name is Dilan. And finally, Zexion the short one with the hair in his face. His name is Ienzo.” Lea had finished his fifth sandwich in the time it had taken Riku and Kairi to eat 2. “Does that answer your question?”

               “Yeah it did, thanks.” Kairi said as she got up and put her plate in the sink, as she did a mop in the corner came to life and started washing it. “Thank you.” She said to the mop as she sat back down.

               “You know Kai, I don’t think those things can hear you.” Riku said smiling.

               “So,” She said, “It’s still nice to be polite. I mean they are cleaning up after us, and with Lea around they deserve a medal.” She said the last part as she watched the mop as it had to clean up the mess Lea made.

               “Hey, I’m not that messy! I’m just slightly disorganized, got it memorized?” Lea said trying to defend himself.

               “I think disorganized and messy are the same thing right Kai?” Riku said chuckling. Kairi laughed along with him.

 _Oh there they go again teaming up like that on me. Well it’s only to be expected, I’m the odd one out._ Lea thought as he watched, a little enviously, as the two of them laughed. _Is this what Roxas and I looked like? Dumb, giggly little kids? No, they aren’t dumb._ He sighed at this thought. _Quit being so bitter Lea, they’ve accepted you when they could have turned you away, and treated you like the butthead that you are. Oh look there’s Hayley again telling me what to do. Do I talk to myself to much? Yes, it’s probably because I was alone for so long, until Roxas……_ Lea snapped out of his thoughts as Kairi and Riku got up.

               “We’re going to start training again, wanna come?” Kairi asked politely. Lea wanted to say yes but he had wanted to ask the old man something.

               “No, you two go ahead, I’ll catch up with you later.” He said as they walked out.

               “Why do you suppose he didn’t wanna come with us Riku?” Kairi asked as they descended a set of stairs leading to a big wide room. There was a smaller room in the corner, it had glass windows so when inside, you could see what was going on in the training room. It was the control room, you could change the larger room into any environment you wanted and with any heartless population. It was a very handy room.

               “I don’t know, but it’s best to leave him with his thoughts when he’s silent like that. Remember, he still isn’t very close to us and might not trust us.” Riku said after thinking about it, it made sense.

               “But what do we care if he trusts us? How do we know we can we really trust him, I mean yes he saved Sora, but what if he still has ulterior motives?”

               “Kairi we talked about this before, if he was still trying to hurt Sora wouldn’t he be trying to get closer to him instead of staying here with us? I think he really just wants to be a Keyblade master.” Riku said as he started to follow Kairi to the control room. _At least I hope that’s all, what else could he gain by getting closer to us?_

               “Yeah, I suppose you’re right Riku. So what do you wanna work on now?” Kairi asked as they reached the control room.

               “Well, you need to work on attacking at a closer range so I’m gunna stay in here and pull up a large heartless that doesn’t deal heavy attacks, but then can’t be harmed easily with magic so you’re gunna have to whack at it to get to come down Ok?” Riku said walking over to the command board. “Don’t panic either, I’ll be right in here to stop it if anything goes wrong.”

               “Alright Riku.” Kairi said as she walked out into the larger are and waited for the heartless. When Riku pulled it up, he had also changed her surroundings. She could no longer see the little room with Riku in it, all she saw was sand and a few buildings buried in it, some were so bad that she could only see the tops of the buildings. She couldn’t get over how real everything looked, even the sun felt real as the heat reached her skin. She didn’t have much more time to look at her surroundings because she saw her target.

               It was a large metallic worm looking heartless and it was half buried in the sand so Kairi could only see the top. She ran for it and started bashing it with her Keyblade, it seemed to do a lot of damaged. It stayed underground as she kept hitting it. _Come on Riku you could’ve given me more of a challenge._ As she thought this, the worm thing began to sink back underground. Kairi looked at it confused. _It couldn’t have been that easy could it?_  She thought to soon, the giant worm raised its head back up and started throwing gold boxes at her. She backed away from one as it exploded and she was thrown to the ground. _Okay, maybe this_ is _going to a bit difficult. If it keeps shooting these darn bombs at me, I’ll never be able to get close to it. Oh well I’m just going to have to run at it and dodge them._ She braced herself, and ran at the heartless bombs exploding around her.

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               Lea waited until he was sure that Riku and Kairi were in the training room before he got up. He walked out into Yen Sid’s study. “Master Yen Sid? May I ask you something?” He said stopping before the wizard’s desk. He started playing with the scarf in his pocket a little nervous.

               “What is it Lea?” The old wizard said setting aside the book he had been reading from, seeing Lea’s nervousness he knew this must be serious. He had never seen Lea fiddle with something like that. _What could be on the boy’s mind?_

               “Well I was wondering if… if there might be any chance of saving Isa from Xehanort?” Lea asked looking at the old wizard still playing with his scarf.

               Yen Sid was slightly taken aback by the question. He knew that Lea was referring to Saix’s somebody, but hearing how cruel the man had been makes him wonder what Lea wanted to do with him. “Why do you ask? The things I’ve heard about that man weren’t very pleasant. Why would you want to save someone as cruel as him?”

               “Because,” Lea said looking Yen Sid straight in the eyes, “Master Yen Sid he is my best friend.”


	6. Chapter 6

Kairi was knocked to the ground as one of those bombs hit her in the leg. _Oh no, oh no, oh no._ Without thinking, she hit the thing with her Keyblade and sent it flying at the heartless. It exploded right in the things face, making it shriek in pain. _Oh, I guess, that that would have been a good idea in the first place._ Kairi got up and ran towards the box nearest to her, she whacked it with her Key sending it flying at the worm. This time as it exploded in its face, he sunk a little back in the ground with his head lolling a bit. _He stopped throwing bombs, now’s my chance!_ She started attacking it, inducing a lot of damage, but then, the thing started rising out of the ground.

               Its lower body started to spin, allowing it to float. That wasn’t the worst part though, the bombs were back, it kept spinning throwing out bombs. _Oh gosh, maybe I can keep hitting the bombs back at it._ That’s exactly what she did, she had thrown multiple bombs at it, and finally it fell back into the sand, with its head lolling like the first time. _Now’s my chance to finish this thing!_ She attacked it over and over again, and finally, the thing died. Its body disappeared and a tiny pink heart rose towards the sky.

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               The old Wizard looked at Lea with a questioning gaze, “Your best friend? When did that happen?” Lea looked the old man in the eyes, then towards the wall to his left.

               “He wasn’t always a royal jerk. He and I use to be best friends growing up, back in Radiant Garden. Then Xehanort came and ruined everything.” Lea continued to stare to his left. Yen Sid waited for him to continue. Of course, Yen Sid had known about Xehanort’s business in Radiant Garden, but he had no idea that he had affected Isa so drastically.

               “When did Isa begin to behave differently?” Yen Sid asked. Lea looked at him, shock showing slightly on the red-head’s face. Yen Sid noticed and asked, “Why do you seem shocked that I asked?” He saw the shock disappear from the young red-head’s face and a smirk take its place.

               Lea had finally stopped fiddling with the scarf in his pocket, “Well, you just seem like the sorta guy who knows everything, you know? The know-it-all of the group. The one who ruins shocking moments by saying, ‘Oh yeah, I knew that a week ago.’ That’s all, I just thought you would have known all of this already.” Lea shrugged as he stopped talking.

               Yen Sid smiled saying, “Sometimes, even the ‘know-it-all’, as you called it, doesn’t know it all. I may be an all-powerful wizard, but even I give people space by not knowing _everything_ about them.” Lea looked at the wizard with his shocking emerald eyes and began to say something, but then Kairi and Riku barged in.

               Kairi was looking rather excited as she talked to Riku. “What’s got you in a frenzy Princess?” Lea asked smirking at Kairi. She looked at Lea and Master Yen Sid and started bouncing with excitement. _Geez, if she keeps this up, she’ll explode._ Lea thought as her excitement continued to grow.

               “I killed a heartless all on my own! It was this huge worm type one, it kept throwing bombs at me and everything, but I hit them right back at him. He didn’t stand a chance against me!” Kairi said in a rush looking quite smug with herself. Riku turned his aquamarine eyes towards Lea and Master Yen Sid feeling like they had interrupted an important conversation.

               “We didn’t interrupt anything important did we?” Riku asks.

               Lea smirked at him and said, “Naw, nothing we can’t talk about later.” _Even though I would like and answer now, but oh well, it would be unfair to kick the two out._

               “Yes, it can wait especially since I’m sending Riku out to take care of a heartless problem.” Yen Sid said looking at Riku. Kairi jumped excitedly again.

               “Can I go too, Master Yen Sid? Please?” Kairi asked looking at the old wizard with big blue eyes. Yen Sid looked as if he had been expecting her to say that. So he simply nods his head.

               “But then you have to take Lea too.” Yen Sid says. He wanted them to get use to going out and fighting, without safety being just a button away like it is in the training room.

               Lea doesn’t look the least bit surprised that Yen Sid was sending him with them. However Riku looked slightly shocked. He hadn’t expected that the wizard would let Kairi come with him so easily, and he definitely hadn’t expected him to make Lea go too. Riku gives Yen Sid a confused look.

               “They both needs some ‘in-field training’, they can’t always have safety a button away.” Yen Sid said as he fixed Riku with a stare that Riku wasn’t about to argue with so instead, he just asks where they will be going. “Halloween Town.” Yen Sid answers. “There have been and alarming number of heartless attack. I suspect that there is a larger heartless that the smaller are attracted to. Take Kairi and Lea and get rid of them.” Riku nods.

               “When we leaving?” Lea asks. He had gone to the corner of the room and was now leaning against a wall so he could see everyone.

               “Immediately.” Yen Sid replies.

               “Well, let’s head for the Gummy Ship.” Riku said as he began to walk out with Kairi and Lea in tow. They headed outside to the back side of the tower where the Gummy Ship was. They piled in as Riku got in the driver’s seat. Once Lea and Kairi were in their seats, Riku started the Gummy Ship and off they went.

               It was silent until they heard something growl. It got louder, making Riku look back at Kairi and Lea. Kairi just points at Lea giggling her head off. Riku realizes that the growling is Lea’s stomach. “You just ate a little over an hour ago Lea! How can your stomach be empty all ready?!” Riku asks laughing along with Kairi.

               Lea smirks at them and chuckles as he says, “I’m sorry! I can’t help it. I am and in-the-closet fat ass.” Kairi and Riku weren’t fazed by the fact that Lea cussed, they had gotten used to it the past week. It didn’t bother them as long as he didn’t say anything offensive. They were still laughing as they reached Halloween town.

               Riku got out of the Gummy Ship. He was surprised to see that his clothes had changed. Instead of his usual white and yellow vest, jeans and sneakers combo, he was wrapped up head to toes like a mummy with only his left eye fully uncovered, his right eye half covered by the gauze. He looked over at Lea and Kairi.

               Instead of Kairi’s normal pink dress and purple shoes, she had on a black dress that stopped just above her knees, it had long flowing sleeves made of a purple satin material unlike the rest of the dresses black velvety material. She had on black combat boots and on her back was a pair of bat wings. They both looked at Lea and began laughing hysterically.

               Lea was wearing tight black pants with a tail attached to the back, he had on a shirt just has tight and had fur along the shoulders. There were two belts crossed around his hip and to top it all off, his nose was painted black and there were whiskers attached to it and there were black pointy ears sticking out of his wild red hair. “Quit laughing guys! I think these whiskers are real! S’kinda freaky!” As he said this, his tail wrapped around his arm making him give a very unmanly scream. “Oh my God! The fricking tail is real too!!!” Kairi and Riku laughed even harder as he flicked his tail back and forth.

               “You’re a kitty cat!” Kairi said through giggles. Lea smirked at the two of them now on the ground with their laughing fit. _Well it could be worse. These pants could be completely cutting off my circulation._ Lea thought a little wryly.

               “Come on you two, we have a job to do.” The other two picked themselves off the ground still laughing as they watched Lea’s tail sway behind him.

               “We should probably head towards the town.” Riku said still smiling trying to control a still giggling Kairi beside him. “If we find the town leader, he should be able to help us find the heartless.”

               “You wouldn’t happen to know who the town leader is would you?” Lea asked looking back at him.

               “If I remember right, Sora told me his name was Jack, Jack Skellington.” Riku said falling instep beside Lea. Still slightly amused with Lea’s appearance, he made a mental note to ask Master Yen Sid about it when they got back.

               “Alright, what does he look like?” Lea asked

               “Don’t worry, we can’t miss him. He’s a 7 foot tall skeleton.” Kairi’s eyes grew wide at this statement. She didn’t like that idea one bit. In fact, as they got closer to the town the more creeped out she was becoming. She had always hated Halloween, it was to creepy for her tasted. Lea on the other hand looked excited.

               “Do you like Halloween Lea?” She asked looking at his excited face. He turned his emerald eyes towards her.

               “Yeah, I like it a lot. When I was a kid I would dress up every year.” He frowned slightly as he looked down at his outfit. “But I was never once a kitty cat.” He chuckled softy. “Isa was a wolf one year though.” He looked shocked as he realized what he just said. Kairi noticed that he didn’t mean to let it slip out. So no matter how badly she wanted to ask, for the sake of this mission running smoothly, she kept her mouth shut pretending that she hadn’t heard the last part.

               She laughed and said, “Maybe this is your subconscience’s way of telling you you should have been.” He looked at her shocked she didn’t ask about Isa.

               _I’ll have to thank her for that later._ Lea thought as they entered the town. They spotted Jack right away. He was standing in the middle of and angry crowd. The crowd kept complaining about heartless attacks.

               “That’s not very fair that they blame him for all of the attacks.” Kairi said.

               “Jack!” Riku shouted getting the skeleton’s attention. The tall skinny figure gracefully made his way over to them.

               “Please don’t tell me you’re all here to yell at me too.” The skeleton said a little sadly.

               “No we aren’t, we are here to help with the heartless attacks. We are friends of Sora’s. I’m Riku, and that’s Kairi and that’s Lea.” Riku said looking up at the tall figure.

               “You’re here to help? How delightful! Thank you very very much!!” Jack said shaking Riku’s hand vigorously. Kairi stared at the skeleton looking terrified. “If you three follow me, I can give some information on the large heartless that seems to be leading these attacks.” Jack said happily as he walked swiftly towards a building marked city hall. Riku, Lea and Kairi had to run to keep up with him and his long legs. Even Lea who was a good 6 feet tall.

               Once they were in the building, Jack turned to them and said, “What I have gathered about this Heartless so far is that it can call any amount of smaller heartless to defend it, that’s why are having trouble getting rid of it, we can’t get close enough to it.” Before he could continue, a girl ran in.

               She resembled a rag doll. There were stitches all over her body and she looked like she had been literally sewn together. “Jack the heartless is back, but it isn’t alone. There is a man with it, a man in a black cloak!!” Riku, Kairi and Lea shared a knowing look. This wasn’t going to be as easy as it had sounded.


	7. Chapter 7

“Darn it, come back here you dumb ball!!!” Sora shouted as he ran after the little white ping pong ball. The past week that the brunette had been at Castle Oblivion, he had gone exploring. To his surprise, he had found a Rec room. Who’d of thought, he found all sorts of games, from board games like Monopoly to games like Air hockey and Ping Pong. Of course all these games required two people. So Sora pushed the Ping Pong table up against a wall and would hit the ball back and forth. That is what said brunette was doing, but the ball had gotten away from him so he had spent the majority of 20 minutes chasing the little devil.

               “Shouldn’t you be finding out more about Ventus rather than chasing a little white ball?” Sora screamed and tripped falling into the Ping Pong table.

               “Owwww…..” Said brunette moaned as he rubbed the bump that was forming on his head. Isa laughed quietly not wanting to offend the young boy.

               “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snuck up on you that way.” Sora looked at the blunette, noting that his eyes were still a soft green color. He also noticed that he was carrying a brown bag much like the one he had left Sora the last time. _Thank God, I was almost out of food._

               “Yeah that hurt.” Sora said rubbing the now fully formed bump on his head. “And I have too learned stuff from Ventus!” The brunette said a little defensively.

               “You’ve contacted him?” Isa asked as he sat on a bean bag that was in the corner of the room. “What did you find out?” Sora sat down in the bean bag next to him lounging in it as he chewed some gum thoughtfully.

               “Well not a whole lot.” The brunette said closing his eyes so he could concentrate. _Should I tell Isa everything? Can I trust him?_

**_You can trust him, when he was Saix, he was a real ass, but he is acting nothing like that now._ **

**** _Roxas? Are you sure? He could be putting on an act._

_**Well then it’s a damn good one. Sora, I think it’s ok to trust him, Axel told me once that they use to be close friends.**_

_You’re trusting him because of something Axel said?_

_**Well yeah. Look don’t argue, just tell him the truth, all of it.**_

_Alright, but if this ends bad I’m making them turn you into a dusk._ Sora sighed and opened his eyes. “Sorry, I was arguing with myself. Well to be honest, I haven’t tried reaching Ven, he reached me, through my dreams.” Sora closed his eyes remembering their encounter.

               _Sora was in a world that he had never seen. There was a large castle adorned with gold chains that connected to neighboring mountains. He looked around more, it was a very green place, lots of flower beds were around the front of the castle where he was. He walked to his left deciding to go around the castle instead of in it._

 _When he reached the side of the castle, he saw what looked to be a training area. There were large golden rings hanging from posts, Sora assumed they were for training because they looked sort of beat up. He looked to his right and saw water cascading down a mountain next to him. It stopped at one landing and then continued down to the small pond next to Sora. Sora climbed up to the landing and jumped across the stream into an opening between the mountains. On the other side was a cliff with a white fence around the edges as well as gold lampposts. Sora looked ahead of him and saw a bench overlooking the cliff’s edge. He walked over to it and as he got there, he saw a blond figure on the grass in front of it._ Ven. _Sora thought. The blond was looking up at the sky. Sora looked up too and saw what he was looking at. “A meteor shower!” Sora said._

_“Yeah, I loved sitting out here and watching them before…..” Ven kept looking at the sky like he was lost in thought. Sora laid down next to the blond._

_“Ven, what happened to you, why are you sleeping in Castle Oblivion? And why is your heart in me? Please tell me, I need to know.” Sora whispered not wanting to interrupt the quiet night._

_“Of course I’ll tell you, why do you think I contacted you in this dream? Of course, I won’t tell you all at once, where’s the fun in that? Stories don’t work if the hero gets a large pile of crap dumped on him at once.” Ven said with a small smirk._

_Sora laughed at the blond’s logic. “I suppose that makes sense.”_

_“I’m only going to tell you one thing tonight, just to keep your little mind wondering.”_

_Sora laughed again, “Who said I had a little mind?”_

_“Well you aren’t the sharpest tack on the teacher’s chair, then again neither am I.” Ven said with a small laugh. “Anyways before you wake up, I going to tell you one thing, wait make that two. First of all,” The blond said holding up one finger, “this world is called the Land of Departure. Second,” he said holding up another finger, “I use to be Xehanort’s apprentice.” Ven put his hand back behind his head._

_“Wait, you were his apprentice? Just how old is this guy? That had to be about 11 years ago, but all the Xehanort’s I have met don’t look a day over 25 at least.” Sora asked sitting up._

_“Too old, oldest fart you’ll ever know. I’ve nicknamed him Geezernort, just for kicks.” Ven said laughing. “Well, it’s time for you to wake up now, I’ll see you again and tell you more.”_

_“Yeah ok, see ya.” Sora said._

               “And then I woke up.” Sora said as he finished telling Isa about his encounter with Ven.

               Isa leaned back in his bean bag chair and said, “Well it’s a good thing that he contacted you. Looks like you’ll get your answers.” Isa was about to get up to leave when he noticed the look on Sora’s face. “Is there something bothering you Sora?”

               Sora looked at Isa. “Yeah, something Roxas told me about you.” Isa froze. _What could it be?_ The blunette thought. _It can’t be anything good considering how cold I was in the Organization._ Sora began to talk again snapping Isa out of his thoughts. “He said that Axel to- or I guess he’s Lea now huh? But anyways, he told Roxas that you two use to be close friends. Is that true?” Sora said feeling kind of nervous. He didn’t want to say anything to upset Isa, but he wanted to know. _Dumb curiosity._ Sora thought. **_Curiosity killed the cat you know?_** _Shuddap Roxas, or I’ll kick you out._

               “It is true, when we were both 16, we lived in Radiant Garden, well you know it as Hollow Bastion. We were best friends pretty much inseparable.” Isa looked at his feet.

               _Oh no, he looks sad! I should’ve kept my mouth shut!_ Sora thought. “Sorry Isa, you look sad now. I shouldn’t have asked.” Sora said quietly shifting in his bean bag.

               “It’s ok Sora. You were only curious. I should get going; this bag should keep you full till the next time I can come visit you. If I can’t make it in time, there is some munny there too that you can buy things with. You know how to use Keyhole portals right?” Isa said standing up and opening a Dark Corridor.

               “Yeah I’ll be fine. Thank you very much Isa.” Isa turned to leave and then stopped.

               “Roxas, I am sorry I was such an asshole to you. I hope you can understand why now.” The blunette looked at Sora. “If he didn’t hear that, could you tell him Sora?”

               “He heard, he says that he forgives you because you’re taking care of his butt now.” Sora laughed and Isa joined in as he walked through the portal and it closed behind him.

XXXXXXX

               Isa stepped out of the portal and onto a street in The World That Never Was. Xehanort had managed to save the castle as well as a few side streets from completely disappearing after Xemnas’ defeat by Sora. Isa and Braig were in charge of the Xehanort copies that had been left here. Ansem, Xemnas, the younger Xehanort and Geezernort had to return to their own times until another opportunity came to come back to this time to carry out their plans.

               Isa opened a portal to his room of the castle, or what had previously Lea’s room. Isa had taken the room simply because he missed his best friend, and this was how he was compensating for that loss. He sat down on the small couch in the corner of the room and stared out the window. Not long after he had settled, he heard a knock on his door, followed by Braig’s entrance. “Hey Luna! You’re back! How did your little meeting with Sora go?” The scarred man sat next to Isa on the couch.

               “I still don’t believe that you haven’t ratted me out yet.” Isa looked at Braig with soft green eyes.

               “Yeah well I’m interested to see how this all goes. Honestly? I’m just here for kicks.” The scarred man said with a smirk. “Well to catch you up on what happened here, I sent one of the puppets to help the Heartless in Halloween Town.”

               “I read a book once where the villain also divided his soul, he put them into these things called Horcruxes. Geezernort’s entire plan sounds like a rip off of J.K. Rowling, doesn’t it?”


	8. Chapter 8

_“Please, don’t do this Master! I’m not strong enough!” Ven begged as a hoard of Neoshadow heartless surrounded him._

_“No, it is because you are trying to hold it in. Let the dark impulses waken in the pit of your heart! Release them, here and now! Sharpen your fear into rage! You must! If you do not let the storm within you run its course, it will wipe you from the face of this world, make no mistake! Do it. Embrace the darkness! Produce for your master the_ _χ-blade!” Master Xehanort shouted as the hoard of Neoshadows came closer and closer to Ven. The Neoshadows attacked, but it was too much for Ven. He threw his arm up in defense, and then his world went black._

_Master Xehanort walked over to his unconscious apprentice and looked down at him rage coursing through him. “You would rather die than use the power?!” He stared down at the blond child. Then kicked him over on his back. “You feckless neophyte! If I must, I’ll extract the darkness within you myself!” Master Xehanort summoned his Keyblade and held it over his apprentice’s chest. A dark ray shot from the Keyblade, hitting Ventus in the chest it extracted a piece of Ven’s heart. The heart fragment rose to the sky as a cloud of darkness swarmed around it. When the darkness faded away, a boy was left in its place. He wore a black outfit with red markings outlining his chest and ab muscles. He had on black pants and black boots with red outlining the bottom. Finally, he wore a helmet on his head, hiding his face._

_“Empty creature from Ventus riven, to you, the name Vanitas shall be given.” Master Xehanort spoke to the dark creature he had created._

_“Yes, Master.” Vanitas replied._

_Master Xehanort looked down at the blond boy whose eyes were now empty. “What are you going to do with him Master?” Vanitas asked_

_“He is dying, it seems you took too much of his strength. I shall take him to a small world so he can die quietly. You will wait for me here.” Master Xehanort said to his new creation. He then picked up the dying blond boy and opened a dark corridor to the only peaceful place he could think of for the boy._

_Destiny Islands, the world where Xehanort had grown up so long ago. Xehanort walked across the beach until he reached the small shack that held a staircase leading to the very tiny island where the Paopu fruit tree stood. He stopped before the stairs, seeing a white sheet across a few boxes. Xehanort set Ventus down and took the sheet, shaking it off a bit and then wrapping Ven in it. He picked the boy up again and continued his way to the tree. He laid the boy on the tree’s oddly shaped trunk and said, “There, you see? An empty world, like a prison. I imagine you’ll be right at home.” Xehanort began to walk away._

_“ **Hey, where am I? Who’s there?” Ventus asked the darkness, but then a light began to show through. Ven found himself falling until he landed on a bright white circle.**_

**_“I’m a brand new heart.” Said a new small voice._ **

**_“But this is- Why are you in my heart?” Ven asked the small voice._ **

**_“The light brought me. I saw it shining in the distance… and followed it here.” The small voice said._ **

**_Ven covered his chest with his hand and said, “Yeah, that was my light. But my heart is fractured.” Ven looked at the broken part of the white circle. “And now… the little I have left is slipping away.”_ **

**_“Then you should join your heart with mine.” The small voice said._ **

**_“Huh?” Ven said. He felt a warm feeling in his chest and saw the broken piece of the circle be repaired._ **

**_“Now our hearts have touched. Nothing else will slip away. And one day… you’ll be strong enough to win back the part that already did.” The small voice said_ **

**_“Right. Thanks.”  Ven said_ **

**_“It’s time to wake up now. All we need to do is…”_ **

**_“Open the door.” Ven said. The white circle shined and disappeared showing Ventus’s stained glass heart._ **

**** _Master Xehanort looked back at the boy in time to see him raise his hand and summon his Keyblade. The Keyblade glowed, and shot a bright light into the air. Ven opened his eyes, and a small smile formed on the boy’s lips. “Well this is unexpected.” Master Xehanort said to no one in particular. He walked over to the boy and asked, “Do you know who you are.”_

_The boy looked at him with still slightly blank eyes as he sat up and said, “Ven.”_

_“Do you know my name? Do you remember how you got like this?” Xehanort asked the boy._

_“No.” Ven said_

_“Can you walk?” Xehanort asked. The old man intended to take him to his old friend Eraqus. He couldn’t keep the boy with him now, not with Vanitas. The blond boy stood and nodded at the old man. “Good, I am going to take you to an old friend of mine, he will take care of you. His name is Eraqus.” Xehanort opened a portal to the Land of Departure._

_XXX_

_Terra, a teenage brunette with muscular build, heard the castle doors open and looked over to see who it was. Aqua, a blue-haired teenage girl who was training with Terra, looked over as well. They saw an old man that they recognized as Master Xehanort walk in with a blond boy who had a distant look in his eyes. Master Eraqus met Xehanort at the door and lead him away so they could talk in private._

_Aqua looked at the boy, he looked very sad and lost. “What wrong with that boy.” She asked Terra._

_“I’ll go ask.” Terra said. He walked over to the boy. “Hey, I’m Terra, what’s your name?”_

_“Ventus.” They boy said quietly not really looking at Terra._

_“So you can speak. Aqua, come on over.” Terra said as Aqua began to walk over._

_“My name is Aqua.” The blunette said to Ven._

_Ven finally looked at the two. “Terra….. Aqua….” He said quietly._

_“Did you come here to train too? Where you from? Are you any good with a Keyblade?” Terra asked._

_Ven’s head began to hurt and he fell to the ground screaming. “Hey what’s wrong?” Terra asked._

_“What are you doing?” Master Eraqus said walking back into the room. Xehanort walked to Ventus’s side and took him in his arms._

_“I didn’t mean to-” Terra said, “I was just asking him some questions.”_

_“Ventus cannot answer your questions, he has lost his memory.” Terra and Aqua looked at the now unconscious boy wondering what had caused him to lose his memory, but dare not ask._

“After I had passed out, Aqua watched over me until I woke up, which wasn’t until sometime after.” Ven said after he finished telling Sora how this all began.

               “Wow that’s really cruel what he did to you.” Sora said with a sad note in his voice.

               “Yeah well the story gets crueler later on.” Ven said looking up at the stars. They were in Sora’s dreams again in the Land of Departure. “It’s time for you to wake up, I’ll see you later.” The blond said.

               “Yeah, see you later.” Sora said.

Xxx

               Sora opened his eyes and found himself back in the white room he used as a bedroom in Castle Oblivion. He sat up and stretched letting out a loud yawn. He got out of bed and walked to the door that led to a small bathroom. Once he finished his business, he walked back into the bedroom and thought about what he wanted to do for the day. _It’s kind of boring just hanging around the castle all alone. An Isa visited yesterday, so I won’t be seeing him anytime soon. Maybe, I could go to Twilight Town and visit Hayner, Pence and Olette. Or I could just go and eat some ice cream._ Sora thought to himself. He walked over to the bag that Isa had left to him and took out enough money for one bar of ice cream. He then summoned his Keyblade and opened a portal to Twilight Town.              

               He walked into the ice cream shop and bought one bar of sea salt ice cream. _Now where can I go?_ Sora thought. **_The top of the station tower._** He heard Roxas say. _Alright, but why there?_

**_I’ll tell you once we get up there._ **

**** _Okay._

Sora walked towards the station. He looked up at the sky and noticed it was around noon. “I slept that long?” Sora said aloud to no one. **_Yeah you did lazy._** Sora laughed, “Thanks Roxas, it’s nice to know I’m not completely alone.” Sora walked into the station and up the staircase that led to the top of the clock tower. “Hey wait, how did I know how to get up here?” He out loud again. “Is it because you did Roxas?”

               **_Yeah, and you should quit talking out loud to yourself, you look like a loon._**

“Thanks for the support friend.” Sora laughed as he opened the door to the top of the tower. He walked over and sat down on the edge and began to eat his ice cream. “So, why did you want to come up here Roxas?”

               **_I would come up here with Axel after missions. We would eat ice cream and watch the sunset together. It made me really happy. You should’ve known that, I showed you my memories in the Realm of Sleep remember?_**

“Oh yeah, I remember now. Roxas, I’m sorry I took you away from your friend. It’s my fault that you are stuck in me and that you can’t do anything on your own.” Sora said sadly.

               **_It’s okay Sora. I’m not that upset over it. I mean, it turned out for the best right? You stopped Xemnas, and set Kingdom Hearts free. Something I couldn’t do even though I promised Xion I would_**.

               **_“_** It’s not your fault, you weren’t given the chance to even try and stop him. Ansem the Wise interfered before you could.” Sora said as he took the last bite of ice cream and turned the stick around. He saw the word loser printed on it.

               **_It speaks the truth._** Roxas laughed.

               “HEY!!” Sora said loudly and then joined Roxas in laughing. He got up with a smile on his face and walked down the stairs and out of the station. He began to wonder around the streets of Twilight Town not wanting to go back to Castle Oblivion yet. He turned down the alley that led to the sandlot and heard a faint meow.

               He turned around and saw an orange cat with bright green eyes walking toward him. Sora looked at it as it rubbed itself on Sora’s legs and purred. “A cat?” **_Very good Sora, now what kind of noise do cats make?_  **He heard Roxas laugh once more as he leaned over to pick up the cat. “Shut up you smart aleck.” Sora looked at the cat, it had no collar and it looked kind of skinny. It meowed at him once again and looked at him with bright green eyes. “You wanna come home with me? I get rather lonely.” **_Hey what about me!!!_**  Sora ignored Roxas as he began to walk to the shopping center to buy some supplies for the cat. He walked in the pet store with the cat and bought him a little cat bed and a week’s worth of cat food. He had a hard time carrying it all, but he managed to open another Keyblade portal back to Castle Oblivion.

               Once there, he set the cat bed in the corner of his bedroom and put the cat food in his food bag. He watched the cat walk around the room and smiled at it. He took a paper bowl out of his food bag and put a can of cat food in it and offered it to the orange cat. The cat ate it contently and Sora petted him as he ate. **_Hey not wanting to ruin the cuteness of the moment, but what is it going to use to go to the bathroom._** Sora face palmed and walked over to the small desk in the room there was an old newspaper there, he set a few sheets by the cat’s bed and said, “This will have to do for now, I’ll go tomorrow and by him a litter box. You hear that kitty? This is where you use the bathroom okay?” He pointed towards the sheets of newspaper as the cat stared at him blankly. **_You’re going to wake up with crap by your bed in the morning._**

Sora sighed and said, “Oh well, what should we name him?”

**_Bob? Paul? Anakin? Darth Vader? Harry Potter?_ **

“Those are the worst names ever for a cat.”

**_Well fine what do you got in mind genius?_ **

“How ‘bout Pickles?”

**_Oh yeah that’s a great name for a cat._ **

“Don’t be a smart aleck, I like it and he seems to also.”

**_Fine, we’ll name the damn cat Pickles._ **


	9. Chapter 9

“Jack the heartless is back, but it isn’t alone. There is a man with it, a man in a black cloak!!” The rag doll said looking rather alarmed.

               “Oh how dreadful! Where did you see the Heartless Sally?” Jack asked

               “It was in the Pumpkin Patch.” The rag doll, Sally, said. Jack looked angry at this statement.

               “Oh no, not MY Pumpkin Patch!” Jack’s face got even angrier and in Kairi’s opinion, it looked quite scary.

               “Excuse me, Sally?” Riku asked keeping his voice calm. The rag doll turned to him. “What did the man in the coat look like?”

               “He had his hood down, so I could see his face clearly. He had bright yellow eyes and pink hair with gray streaks in it!” Sally said trying to calm Jack down.

               “Pink hair!” Lea said, his whiskers twitching. “Could it be Marluxia?” He looked at Riku with wide green eyes.

               “One way to find out.” Riku said, and then he turned to Jack who was pacing back and forth still looking rather angry. “We’ll head to the Pumpkin Patch and stop the Heartless AND the man in black. Would you like to come and help Jack?”

               “I’d love to!” The skeleton shouted as he stopped pacing to look at Riku. “I’ll teach those things a lesson! How dare the show up in MY Pumpkin Patch!”

               “Please be careful Jack!” Sally said as Jack walked out of the building with Riku, Kairi and Lea in tow. Jack walked toward the Pumpkin Patch rather fast mumbling all the while about his Pumpkin Patch. Riku and Lea were jogging to keep up with him, while Kairi was at a near sprint. As they got closer to the patch, a black tentacle with a claw at the end started showed up, it darted forward attacking Kairi, but she jumped out of the way in time. She summoned her Keyblade, Destiny’s Embrace and attacked the Tentaclaw. After a few hit it sank back in the ground. She looked at the rest of her group and noticed that they were also fighting the things. Jack was throwing magic spells at a few of them, while Riku had summoned his Keyblade, Way to Dawn, and kill one that had wrapped around his leg. She looked at Lea who had also summoned his Keyblade, Phoenix Wing, along with a chakram and killed one that was going for Jack.

She looked towards the Pumpkin Patch and saw a giant spider like heartless. It had four long legs covered it thorns and a pink flower bud at the top, underneath it was a coffin with the heartless emblem attached to it.

               “Guys, I think I found what’s spawning these things!” Kairi shouted as another one attacked her. Riku, Lea and Jack looked towards the patch and saw the heartless.

               “Aww man I recognize that thing! Roxas fought it once. He complained that it was a real pain to beat!” Lea shouted towards Riku.

               “Well isn’t this going to be lovely.” Riku muttered. The mummy wrappings on his face were starting to affect his fighting so he ripped them off, letting his shoulder length silver hair flow. “What should we do, the tentacle things don’t seem to be letting up!” He looked at Kairi and Jack who were fighting multiple at a time.

               “Leave us here to fight them, you and Lea go fight the heartless!” Jack shouted as he threw a fire spell at one. Riku looked at Kairi.

               She looked back at him and said, “I’m fine! Go kill that thing!” Riku nodded and started for the Pumpkin Patch. Lea came running after, as they got closer, the more Tentaclaws they saw. They fought some making them disappear.

               “It’s pointless you know.” A new voice said, “Those things will just keep coming back unless you kill the Leechgrave.”

               Riku and Lea looked at the new figure that showed up. He was standing next to the heartless he had called Leechgrave and he had bright yellow eyes and pink hair. “Marluxia! It is you!” Lea shouted.

               “Yes it is Axel, or should I say Lea. By the way that is a very nice look for you.” The pink haired man said gesturing towards Lea’s outfit. “I am glad you are here traitor, I have been waiting to get my revenge for what you did at Castle Oblivion.” Lea’s face paled as Marluxia gave him a cruel smile. Before Lea could say something, black thorns came up from the ground encasing Lea.

               “Lea!” Riku shouted as he jumped back before the thorns could get him too. Lea squirmed against the thorns, but then shouted in pain as they dug into his skin.

               “Is that you little Riku, my you have grown. Don’t worry, I’ll make his death slow and very, very painful.” Marluxia let out a loud maniacal laugh as he tightened the thorns around Lea.

               “Gah!!” Lea shouted “I’m not going to be taken down that easily!” Lea felt his fire coursing through his veins, begging to be released, and Lea didn’t hold back. His flames engulfed Marluxia’s thorns and setting himself free. He had cuts all over his body, there was a large slashes across his chest and arms. He did a quick heal spell on himself and looked up at Marluxia with a smirk on his face as if to say I told you so.

               “Are you all right?” Riku asked fighting off another tentacle.

               “Yeah I’m fine. If I remember right, Roxas told me that the more of these tentacle things we kill off the weaker the larger heartless gets.” He said summoning his Keyblade in his right hand and a chakram in his left.

               “Then let’s beat the hell outta these things!” Riku said killing another one. They fought the Tentaclaws until they had defeated the majority of them around the heartless. As Riku killed one more, the heartless collapsed.

               “Now Riku! Bash the hell outta that think!!!” Lea shouted as he began attacking it. They go a few good hits in, but before they could finish it off, it got back up and summoned more Tentaclaws. Riku jumped back before one could grab onto him, but he failed to notice that another was behind him. The Tentaclaw attacked, and literally ate Riku. _What the hell?!_ Riku thought as he travelled through a dark tube. _Did that thing eat me?!_ Before Riku could go into freak out mode, he was shot out of the tube and landed on top of the pink flower bud on top of the heartless. He looked down to make sure he still had all of his limbs, everything seemed to be safe, but he was covered in a thick slime. _Aw yuck!_ “Lea, be careful, those things can eat you and you’ll come out covered in slime!” Riku shouted as Lea dodged an attack from another Tentaclaw that had risen again.

               “GAH!!!” Riku screamed as the giant heartless bucked him off of it. He landed on his butt in a pile of pumpkins, a few breaking and spilling their contents on Riku. “EW! Could this get any grosser!” He shouted as he was now covered in plant slime AND pumpkin guts. Riku jumped back on his feet and began to attack another Tentaclaw. With each hit, his attacks became slower, and he grew more tired. He finished off the Tentaclaw and had to fight to stay on his feet. _Oh no._ He thought. _It must be that slime._

               “Riku are you alright?” Lea shouted as he killed another Tentaclaw.

               “No!” Riku shouted back. “This slime seems to take away your strength.” Riku cleared his thoughts and did a quick cure spell on himself. He felt a little better. _That’s gunna have to do for now._ He thought has he killed another Tentaclaw causing the Leechgrave to collapse. Lea noticed and threw his chakram at it repeatedly and Riku also attacked with Way to Dawn, but soon felt the effects of the slime again. Finally, Lea gave it one final hit and it disappear, a small pink heart traveled towards the sky.

               “Very good you two, even with the effects of the slime Riku, you still managed to fight. It is rather impressive.” Marluxia said clapping. “Well my job here is done, I would love to finish you off Lea, but I have orders. So instead I’ll leave you with a parting gift.” Marluxia snapped his fingers sending more thorns at Lea. Lea however, saw it coming and dodged. The thorns only managed to rip his shirt off. Lea turned towards Marluxia and stuck out his tongue. “Well that’s very mature of you.” Marluxia said as he disappeared in a dark cloud.

               “Yeah Lea very mature…” Riku said as he collapsed. Lea ran over to him and made him drink a potion he had been carrying. Riku sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Gah, I need a shower.”

               “Hey, are you guys alright?!” They turned to see Kairi running over to them with Jack sauntering beside her. “Riku, your covered in slime and pumpkin guts, and Lea what happened to you shirt?!”

               “Nothing to worry about.” Lea said picking Riku up by his arm and draped it over his shoulder. Riku leaned heavily against Lea as they began walking. “As for Riku, the slime he is covered in takes away his strength. We gotta get back to Yen Sid’s tower, now.”

               Kairi nodded and started walking towards the Gummi Ship but then stopped and said, “Wouldn’t it be faster for you to take Riku through a dark corridor? By the looks of it, he needs to get that stuff off him now. I can drive the Gummi Ship back to the tower.”

               “I think Kairi here is right, he does look absolutely dreadful. Thank you all so much for your help, the citizens will be pleased.” Jack said looking at Riku with concern.

               “Yeah alright.” Lea said. “You welcome, and if anything else happens here, we’ll come back. I’ll meet you back at the tower Princess.” Lea opened a dark corridor and dragged himself and Riku through it.

               “They seem like lovely people! I wish we could have talked more!” Jack said as him and Kairi started walking towards the town. “I don’t suppose you’d stay and have a chat with me?” He looked down at Kairi.

               She shook her head and said, “No, I’m sorry, but I should be getting back.” _And I am still sort of creeped out by this place._ She thought.

               “Of course, of course, but you three be sure to come back and visit, yes?” Jack said as they reached the Gummi Ship.

               Kairi smiled at the friendly skeleton and said, “Of course we will.” She waved goodbye as she jumped in the Gummi Ship and started it up. _Maybe this town isn’t_ so _bad._ Kairi thought as she drove the Gummi ship back towards Yen Sid’s tower. _And Jack seems friendly enough for being a skeleton. I guess that’s just further proof you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover._ She landed the Gummi Ship in the back of the tower and got out. _Aw my clothes changed back, I kind of liked that outfit._ She thought a little sadly as she ascended the stairs to Master Yen Sid’s study.

               As she walked in, she noticed Lea sitting in a chair across from Yen Sid’s desk telling him about the heartless attack and the man in the black coat who he called Marluxia. He was also eating a sandwich. _He’s eating again?_ Kairi thought to herself as she noticed that he had changed into a pair of red and black plaid pajama pants and was still shirtless, but had bandages across his stomach from the cuts he had received from Marluxia’s thorns. Kairi couldn’t help but notice that the man was very muscular, despite being so skinny.

               “Hello Kairi, it’s good to see you back in one piece.” Master Yen Sid said as he waved his hand, conjuring another chair for Kairi to sit in. She sat in it a little tiredly.

               “Where’s Riku?” She asked.

               “He’s in his room, after cleaning up, he was pretty tuckered out so he collapsed on his bed.” Lea said chuckling slightly, “Actually, sleep sounds pretty good right now.” He had finished his sandwich and stood to stretch.

               “No sleep for you till you finish telling me about this pink haired man.” Yen Sid said.

               “Aww but I told you everything I know, he had yellow eyes and silver streaks in his pink hair.” Lea said sitting back down.

               “But he had kept his personality from when you knew him?”

               “Yeah, just like Braig did.” Lea said yawning.

               “Alright Lea you can go, you to Kairi, you probably want to get cleaned up and rest.” Yen Sid said as he got up to retrieve a book from a shelf.

               “Thank you.” Kairi and Lea said in unison. Lea headed towards his bedroom, and Kairi towards the bathroom that she shared with Riku and Lea. She didn’t mind sharing with the boys as long Lea broke his habit of leaving his underwear on the floor after he showered. Kairi got cleaned up and bandaged the minor scrapes she had and then walked to her room. She changed into some pajamas and laid in her bed, not really all that tired, she listened to Riku’s soft snores. Her room was right between Riku and Lea’s, not long after she laid down, she heard Lea’s chainsaw snores and laughed at the difference between her two friends snores. Kairi closed her eyes and soon sleep overtook her as well.


	10. Chapter 10

Riku groaned as he sat up in his bed, he looked out the window and noticed it was still dark. _Gah, what time is it?_ He looked at the clock on the nightstand next to his bed. _Lovely, 2 in the morning._ Before he could lie back down to sleep some more, his stomach growled, loudly. _Alright, shut up, I’ll get you food._ He swung his legs out of bed and stood, he felt a sharp pain at his left side. _Ow! What the freak was that?!_ He looked down at his torso noticing that he didn’t have on a shirt, instead his torso was covered in bandages. _Oh right, that heartless._ **GROWL!** _Yeah, yeah I’m getting there stomach!_

He walked out of his room and headed towards the kitchen, he saw light flooding from the crack under the door. _Uh, who else is up?_ He swung the door open and saw Lea sticking his head in the fridge. “You know, I heard that the farther you stick your head in, more food appears.” Riku said sarcastically walking over to a cabinet and pulling out a loaf of bread.

                Lea jumped hitting his head on the top of the fridge. “Jeez!” He yelled standing up running a hand through his already bed tousled flaming hair. “Don’t sneak around like that you smartass!” He said looking back in the fridge pulling out some turkey lunch meat and mustard from the fridge. “So how you feeling?”

               “Fine, thanks. Could you grab the pickles too please?” He asked before Lea could close the fridge. “So what are you doing up this late?”

               “Couldn’t sleep, not with my stomach growling like he hasn’t eaten in months.” Lea said pulling out the pickles and setting them, along with the meat and mustard, next to the bread as Riku went to another cabinet to get two plates.

               “Are you sure your stomach’s a he?”

               “He sure eats like one.”

               “Well what if he is just a really fat girl and you just made her cry by saying she eats like a guy?” Riku asked with a chuckle. He brought the plates over and handed one to Lea.

               Lea laughed and said, “Alright fair enough, but whether it is a boy or a girl, it is one hell of a fatass.” Riku laughed along with Lea as they started making their sandwiches.

               Riku sat his plate on the small table in the middle of the kitchen and walked to the fridge pulling out the milk, he poured himself a glass and put it back in the fridge. “You want something to drink?” He turned to see Lea stuffing his face with Lay’s chips.

               “Yeah, some orange juice please?” He said from his spot at the table. Riku poured him some orange juice and then grabbed his milk and walked back to the table. He sat down handing Lea his orange juice, and started eating, not quite as fast as Lea ate, but still rather quickly.

               It was silent until Riku slowed down to ask Lea a question. “So, who’s Isa?”

               Lea looked at him wide eyed coughing as he choked on his food. Riku looked at him surprised by his reaction. _I shouldn’t have asked, it was probably personal._ Once Lea’s coughing had calmed down he took a drink and looked at Riku. “Why do you ask?”

               “Well, back in Halloween Town, I heard you mention him to Kairi and I was just curious. You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.” Riku said taking a drink of his milk.

               “Well, you’ve actually met him before.” Lea said picking his sandwich back up and eating a little more slowly.

               “Huh? Really? Where?” Riku asked looking at him confused.

               “Well, you met his Nobody, Saix.” Lea said concentrating on the plate in front of him. “His Somebody’s name is Isa, and we use to be best friends.” Riku thought he heard a little sadness in Lea’s voice.

               “Use to be?” Riku asked quietly.

               “Yeah, we met when we were little kids, same Kindergarten class. On the first day, I bugged the crap out of him until he agreed to be my friend.” Lea laughed lightly. “We were friends ever since, almost inseparable. Until we were 16 and Ansem the Wise invited us to be his apprentices. He said it was because we had the best grades in our class and that we had potential. So we left our parents and moved into the castle, we continued our high school studies, as well as learning about the experiments the other scientists did.” Lea’s face darkened.

               “So then Isa started to get closer to Xehanort and it all went downhill from there?” Riku asked wanting to know more.

               “Yeah.” Lea refused to say anything else. So Riku decided to change the subject.

               “So… you had the best grades in your class?” Lea smirked thankful for the subject change.

               “Yeah, I’m smarter than I look.” He said tipping his chair back.

               “I suppose. One more question, if I can?” Riku said getting up and putting his plate in the sink.

               “Can I have full right not to answer and then slap you upside the head?” Lea said with a smirk.

               “Sure, why not.” Riku said pouring himself another glass of milk.

               “Then by all means ask your question.”

               Riku took a drink of milk and then asked, “What made you decide to become a Keyblade Master?”

               Lea’s smirk widened. “Sorry, that secret stays with me.” He got out of his chair and put his plate and glass in the sink.

               “Alright, fair enough, but if I find out that you have ulterior motives, if you plan on hurting Sora or Kairi, I will put an end to you. I don’t owe you anymore.” Riku said keeping his voice dangerously low.

               Lea looked at Riku a little shocked but realized that he had every right to say something like that. _Maybe I should just tell him why._ “Look Riku, I’m not here to hurt any of you honest.” He let out a sigh. “I wanted to be a Keyblade master so I would have a way to move in between the worlds without the Darkness.”

               Riku hadn’t expected that answer. “Why?” he asked.

               “Well, you know how darkness is, and now that I’m no longer a Nobody, I don’t have as much control over it as I would like. Just by using a few portals, I felt it threaten to go out of control. I didn’t want that.”

               “That’s not what I meant, why did you want to be able to move between worlds?” Riku asked then chugging down the rest of his milk.

               “At first, I was looking for Isa, but now, I don’t really know.” He said. “I think, I stay because I have nowhere else to go. Yeah I suppose I could go back to Radiant Garden, and have my ears talked off by Ienzo, and my ass chewed by Even. But that doesn’t sound very pleasing now does it?” Lea looked at the clock on the wall, it was 3 in the morning. “Well, I’m gunna go back to bed.” He walked out of the kitchen leaving Riku with is thoughts.

               _He really does just want his friend back doesn’t he? But how can I trust him, he betrayed his team at Castle Oblivion, he was responsible for killing two or three of the other Nobodies._ Riku sighed setting his glass in the sink. _Whatever, my brain is too tired to think about this._ He walked out of the kitchen and back to his room. Once his head hit the pillow, he was out.

XXXXXXXX

               Kairi opened her eyes to a bright stream of sunlight coming into her room from a crack in her curtains. She yawned and looked at the time, it was 8 in the morning. She swung her legs off the bed and stretched. She walked out of her room and was met by Riku, he was still wearing his pajama pants and had on a grey tank top, his short silver hair was sticking up in some places like he just woke up as well. “Hey, I was just coming to see if you were up yet, Lea cooked breakfast.” He said and then he looked at her hair, I was a huge mess from her sleeping on it. He laughed and said, “Nice hair Kai.”

               She laughed too and went back in her room putting her hair in a ponytail. She looked at Riku and said, “Better?”

               “Yeah now you don’t look too much like a Yeti.” They laughed and headed towards the kitchen. As they got closer, Kairi smelled bacon and sausage, she licked her lips as her stomach growled. Once there, Kairi saw Lea standing over the stove making scrambled eggs. He was also still wearing his pajama pants, but unlike Riku he was shirtless, and he had his spikey red pulled back into a poinytail. Kairi yawned and said, “I didn’t know you could cook Lea.”

               “Mm? Oh morning, and yeah my mom taught me when I was about your age. She said it was important for a guy to learn how to cook.” Lea said looking back at Kairi. Riku sat down at the small table and picked up a book he had been reading. Kairi looked at the cover. _Leven Thumps and The Gateway to Foo._ On the cover, was a boy with black hair and a silver streak in it. He had a weird animal sitting on his shoulder.

               She giggled and then said, “Leave it to Riku to find a weird book.” She walked over to the cupboard and reached for a glass, but she wasn’t quite tall enough so she had to jump.

               Riku laughed and said, “Leave it to Kairi to have to get a step ladder to reach a glass.” She stuck her tongue out at him and poured herself some strawberry milk.

               Lea listened to them banter back and forth and he smiled. He shut off the oven and grabbed three plates. He piled them with scrambles egg, bacon and sausage links. He set two plates, one in front of Riku and the other in front of Kairi, on the table. He then grabbed his plate and sat down. A comfortable silence fell as the three of them ate. The tense conversation that Riku and Lea had just a few hours before seemingly forgotten. After they had all finished eating, they set their dishes in the sink for the mops to clean and went to get ready for the day.

               Kairi came out of her room with her usual pink dress on, and she had taken her hair out of a ponytail letting it fall to her shoulders. She wandered to Riku’s room, when she got there, she found him searching for something under his bed. “Whatcha looking for?” She asked.

               “My other shoe, it seemed to have disappeared.” Riku said standing up, he was wearing his usual outfit as well, jeans and a white and yellow vest with a black shirt underneath. She noticed that he was indeed missing a shoe.

               She looked around the room searching for the missing object. “Isn’t that it under the desk?” She said pointing to the left wall where the desk stood by the closet.

               “Well would ya look at that.” He said putting it on. They walked to Yen Sid’s study together.

               “Do you think we’ll get to go to another world today?” Kairi asked excitedly.

               “Well let’s find out.” Riku said as they walked into the study. Lea was already there, wearing jeans and a green T-shirt.

               “Good, you’re all here.” The old wizard said getting up from his chair. “I have to send you three to Atlantica today, more Heartless are beginning to spring up in the ocean.”

               “Wait Atlantica, so we’ll be under water?” Riku asked

               “Yes, but don’t worry, you will adapt accordingly like you did in Halloween Town.” The old wizard said as he stroked his beard.

               “Please don’t tell me we are going to grow gills.” Lea asked

               “I don’t know but you should be just fine.” Yen Sid said with a chuckle. “Now hurry along.”

               Riku nodded and led Kairi and Lea outside to the Gummi ship. “I’m not growing gills.” Lea said as they got into the Gummi ship.

               “Don’t worry, Sora only changed into a mermaid, he didn’t grow gills.” Kairi said as Riku steered the Gummi ship towards Atlantica.

               “So I’m going to have a giant fish tail!”

               “We could always go back to Halloween Town again.” Having said that, Riku landed the Gummi Ship in the ocean and he stepped out of the ship with Kairi and Lea in tow. They found that Riku was right, they had changed.

               Kairi now had a pink mermaid’s tail where her legs should be, and had a teal seashell bra on. Riku had a yellow tail that resembled a shark’s. They looked at Lea. “What?” He said, “Were you expecting I’d be a Catfish?” He smirked. He had an orange tail that also looked like a shark’s.

               “Yeah I was really hoping for that actually.” Kairi said giving a laugh. She laughed even harder as she looked at Lea’s hair. His usual red spikes were now flattened by the water making his hair very long and straight. “You look like a girl!” Riku began to laugh along with her. “This is gunna take some getting used to.” She added as she tried to swim. After a few tries she got the hang of it. “Hey guys look! This isn’t so hard!” She was now doing loops.

               Lea and Riku followed her and soon got the hang of it. Riku looked very excited as he looped and spun through the water. “So what now?” Kairi asked looking at Riku.

“I suppose we go to the places where large amount of Heartless have shown up. There is a ship wreck not far from here where they have been reported.” Riku said looking back at her.

“I don’t think you three have to worry about making it to that ship wreck.”  The three summoned their weapons as soon as they heard this new voice.

“Larxene!” Lea shouted as he saw the former female Nobody swim towards them. Instead of transforming into Merpeople like the three of them, she had octopus tentacle where her legs should be. All freaking 8 of them. Lea also noticed that her eyes were no longer a cold shade of jade, they were that sickly yellow color.

“That’s right Lea.” She said in a sickly sweet voice. The way Larxene said Lea’s name sent sick shivers down his spine. “And now I’m gunna get my revenge on you! How dare you betray us at Castle Oblivion!”

Lea smirked and said, “Like I’d let you!”

She swam behind Lea so fast that none of the three Keys could react and draped her arms over his shoulders and whispered in his ear, “But I’m not going to hurt you. No, that’s far too easy on you. I’m going to hurt your new little friends there.”

Before Lea could get away or shout warning, Larxene’s grotesque octopus legs wrapped around him efficiently keeping him trapped while one snake around his mouth. Riku and Kairi went to attack the Savage Nymph, but before they got anywhere near her, dark purple tendrils of darkness shot from the ground trapping the two teens. Larxene let out a high pitched laugh.

Kairi and Riku struggled against the darkness holding them, but it was no use. As Kairi gave up trying, she felt a painful shock throughout her body. She screamed and heard electricity crackling in the water around her. The pain subsided but then came back tenfold. She screamed and heard Riku do the same as his body also experienced the pain.

Larxene let out another laugh as Lea struggled against her tentacles. Finally Lea bit down on the one over his mouth. Larxene let out a scream and said, “You bastard! You just made it worse for them!” She stuck her hand towards the two teens and sent another powerful shock of electricity at them.

As their screams reached Lea’s ears, he struggled harder and shouted, “Stop it you bitch! They never did anything to deserve that!”

“No dear, it was your sins that brought this pain to them.” She said in that sick voice. Suddenly Lea felt a small knife scrape against his bare back. “And now, I’m going to stab you in the back, just as you did to us.” And with that she thrust her small knife into Lea’s back. The last thing Lea heard before his world went dark was Kairi screaming his name.


	11. Chapter 11

_Ven opened his eyes and sat up to stretch, letting out a yawn. He had fallen asleep watching a meteor shower. He sighed and lay back down with his eyes closed. When he opened them again, he saw a blue-haired girl standing over him looking down at him with her cheerful blue eyes. Ven sat up very fast and let out a surprised shout. He turned over standing on his knees as the girl let out a soft laugh._

_“Gimme a break Aqua!” Ven said laughing._

_Aqua smiled and stood up, “Ven, you hopeless sleepy head! You know you should have at least brought a blanket.”_

_Ven looked at her his small smile disappearing, “But…..” He looked to the ground. “Did I dream that place up? It really felt like I’d been there before, looking up at the stars.”_

_Aqua patted his head gently letting out another quietly laugh and said, “Except, you’ve always lived here with us.”_

_“Yeah.”_

_They walked over to the edge of the cliff and sat down looking up at the stars. “Hey Aqua, you ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?”_

_“Well they say-” Aqua began but was interrupted by a new voice._

_“That every star up there is another world.”_

_Aqua looked behind them and saw their dark haired friend looking at them with his dark blue eyes and a small smile on his lips. “Terra!”_

_“Yep, hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own. The light is their hearts.” He said as he walked over to join them by the cliff’s edge. “And it’s shining down on us like a million lanterns.”_

_“Whaaa? I don’t get it!” Ven said looking at Terra confused._

_“In other words, they’re just like you Ven.” Terra said smiling at him._

_“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ven said standing up._

_“You’ll find out someday, I’m sure.”_

_“I wanna know now!” Ven whined._

_“You’re too young to know now!”_

_“Quit treating me like a kid!”_

_Their arguing was interrupted by Aqua’s laughter. “Hey what are you laughing at?” Terra asked_

_“I can’t help it, you two would make the weirdest brothers!” She exclaimed while still laughing._

_“Huh?” Ven and Terra said simultaneously while Terra crossed his arms, and Ven put his behind his head. As Aqua kept laughing, the two of them joined in. The two then went back and sat down next to Aqua and looked up at the stars together._

Sora sat up and looked at Ven, “That’s all I get to see?!”

               Ven laughed and said, “That’s all you get to _see_ yes. But I’ll tell you more.” Ven sat up and looked at Sora, the blonde couldn’t get over how similar they looked.

               “Well don’t just sit there, tell me more!” Sora said practically bouncing with excitement.

               “Alright, alright, well before we all went back to our rooms that night, Aqua gave us each a lucky charm.” Ven pulled a green star-shaped trinket from his pocket. “She told us that somewhere out there, there is a tree with star shaped fruit and if friends carry a lucky charm that looks like it, then they will never be separated. An unbreakable connection.” Sora studied the trinket and realized the star-shaped fruit in the story was a Paupo fruit from the Islands.

               “An unbreakable connection.” Ven repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. “What a bunch of bull.” Even after saying that, however, he still carefully placed the trinket back in his pocket. Sora thought he saw a tear threaten to fall from the older boy’s eye. “The next morning, Aqua and Terra had their Mark of Mastery, and Aqua passed, while Terra failed because of the darkness in his heart, the same darkness that led to his end.” Ven stayed silent for a little while, then said, “Time to wake up.” Sora’s vision went black.      

XxXxXxX

               Sora jolted awake in bed and he could still feel Ven’s sadness as he looked at the mass of orange fur on his chest. Sora petted Pickles slowly as the cat contently purred. He was about to fall back to sleep when he felt a mental slap.

               _Don’t fall back asleep, you still need to get our horribly named cat a litter box!_

               Sora groaned. “He is not horribly named!” Sora said defensively as he pick Pickles off of him so he could get ready for the day.

               _Sure because all the cats these days are named after a pickled vegetable._

“Don’t be a sarcastic butt.” Sora said as he got ready. After putting his clothes on, he grabbed his munny and opened a portal to Twilight Town.

               Before going to the pet shop again, Sora did some exploring. He walked towards the old mansion, curious if there was anything left that could give him a clue about the Namine in Jiminy’s journal. As he reached the front gates, he heard Roxas protest. _Sora, Sora please I don’t want to go in there._ Sora ignored him, letting his curiosity overpower the sense of dread from his Nobody.

               As Sora walked around the house, he was surprised at how big it actually was. Sora, still ignoring Roxas’ protests, walked into what was easily the largest room in the house, the library. The secret entrance to Ansem the Wise’s old lab was still open so Sora descended down the steps. The first thing he saw was the computer room, he snooped around there trying to find something, but the brunette found nothing except destroyed files. He walked to the next room and felt his heart get very heavy, only he realized that it wasn’t _his_ heart, it was Roxas’.

               _Sora please can we leave now?_ Sora noticed that the Nobody’s voice sound very strained. Then the brunette remembered.

               “This was where you last saw Axel.” When he said the pyromaniac’s name, he felt Roxas’ heart grow even heavier.

               _Not only was it the last time I saw him, but it was at that point that I truly remembered him, our time in the Organization, and more importantly, the times as Best Friends. I was too late though, I had to return to you, and he… he couldn’t follow me._ Sora felt a tear fall from his eye, although now he wasn’t sure if it was him or Roxas crying.

               Sora turned and ran out of the mansion to spare his Nobody any more pain. Once outside the gates, the brunette asked, “Roxas, how did you stay so quiet when I saw, no when _we_ saw Axel die?” Sora didn’t get a response so he began walking to the pet shop in silence. He looked up at the sun and estimated it was about 10 in the morning.

               The brunette found the pet shop easily enough and went in to buy the litter box. As he was leaving he felt his Nobody finally relax. _I was only able to stay quiet because you didn’t know I was there, and by that time, I was too deep in your heart to make you acknowledge me. And honestly Sora, I hated you. I hated that you were the one with him as he took his last breath, I hated that it was_ you _he sacrificed his life for. I hated that I couldn’t even tell him that he made me feel like I had a heart too._

Sora stopped and said, “Roxas it wasn’t just me there, you were too. And he didn’t risk his life for _me,_ he risked it for _you._  He knew that if I was still alive then you would be too. He knew what he was doing Roxas. And every single choice he made was for you.” Sora didn’t wait for his Nobody to respond, instead he closed his blue eyes and opened a portal back to Castle Oblivion.

               As he walked back into his room, he noticed that Pickles wasn’t lying on the bed anymore, he was clawing at a white lab coat. The man wearing said coat kept trying to shake the cat off while cursing. Sora noticed that the man had bright blue eyes, well _eye._ The other eye was covered by the man’s long silver bangs. Sora laughed as he sat down the litter box and went to pry Pickles off of the poor man. He gently set Pickles on the bed and then turned questioning eyes towards the silver haired man in his room.

               “Hello Sora, I don’t suppose you would remember me, I’m Ienzo, but we can talk about that later, right now Riku and Kairi need your help. Lea as well.” Sora opened his mouth to question the man but was interrupted by a hand in his face. “Questions later, if we don’t hurry, they could die. Now quickly, open a portal to Atlantica.” That shut the young Keyblader up.

               Sora opened a portal to Atlantica.


	12. Chapter 12

               As Sora walked through the portal, he sensed Ienzo close behind him. The brunette felt the change in his body, now instead of legs, he had a blue shark’s tail, and his gravity defying spikes, apparently also water proof, stood straight up. Sora turned to Ienzo, whose legs had been replaced by a black tail that belonged to a fish Sora couldn’t name, but he didn’t have time to dwell on that. “Where are they?” Sora asked frantically.

               “In the middle of a reef, not far from here.” Ienzo said as he swam off to Sora’s left. Sora followed quickly behind him.

               _Roxas? Are you mad at me?_ No answer. _Even if you are, I need to know, do you know Ienzo, can I trust him?_

It took a minute but the Nobody responded. _I knew his Nobody Zexion, but not very well. He doesn’t seem harmful though._ Roxas’ words came out short and fast, telling Sora that the blonde was indeed upset at him. Sora followed Ienzo swiftly, looking at his surroundings, he found that they were indeed in Atlantica, the sandy ocean floor, the green seaweed growing as makeshift grass, and the sun high above reflecting off the water and making beautiful ribbons of light dance before Sora’s vision. Sora was so engrossed in his surroundings that he nearly ran into Ienzo as the former Nobody ducked behind a rock.

               Sora heard Kairi and Riku struggling and he had the overpowering urge to charge in right there, but he made himself stay patient. He peeked over the rock and saw that Kairi and Riku were entangled in dark tendrils and that a woman with blonde hair and disgusting yellow eyes had a hold of Lea. “Who is that?” Sora whispered to Ienzo.

               “That would be Larxene, another member of the Organization you would have forgotten.” Sora was about to ask why he forgot but then he heard Kairi and Riku scream. Sora saw currents of electricity around his two best friends and their screams painfully filled his ears. No later, did he hear Lea begin to scream.

               “Stop that you bitch! They never did anything to deserve that!”

               Sora saw Larxene whisper something in the pyro’s ear and then he went limp. Larxene laughed maniacally and threw Lea’s limp body to the side and began to slowly approach Riku and Kairi. “Well it looks like you two are all alone now with me. What ever shall I do with such young bodies just asking to be tortured.” Kairi spat at the witch as she screamed Lea’s name. Riku was struggling against the dark tendrils to no avail.

               “That’s it!” Sora shouted. “Ienzo take care of Lea, I’ll get Kairi and Riku.” Ienzo nodded and swam towards Lea. Sora felt Roxas nearly shatter as he looked at Lea’s limp body. The brunette heard Kairi say his name weakly before she passed out from her pain. Sora summoned his Keyblade and swam towards Larxene.

               “Well look who’s come to play! You were the one who got rid of me! But I don’t suppose you would remember that thanks to Namine’s meddling! Well Sora, it’s so nice to see you again!” Sora charged at her but she laughed and easily side-stepped his attack. “Ah ah ah little Keyblade master!” She laughed and sent another current of electricity towards Kairi and Riku. Sora tensed as he heard them scream, his hair sticking up even more, as he to felt the effects of the electricity. “One more act like that and I will end them.” Sora glared at the witch, but it only made her laugh harder, Sora cringed at the disgusting sound.

“Blizzaga!” Sora looked towards Ienzo who had a book out and was reading from it intently. “Blizzaga!” The gray haired man yelled again. With the second spell, the water around Larxene began to freeze. The former Nobody shrieked and tried to swim away from the icy prison, but the ice captured one of her grotesque tentacles and forbid her from moving.

“You whelps! How foolish are you! You will not win this battle! Thirteen to seven! Ha! Six actually now that I finished that disgusting traitor!” Sora felt Roxas become enraged at that comment and before Sora new it, he lunged forward to attack Larxene, but she only laughed, and with that, she surrounded herself in darkness and was gone. Sora didn’t know whether it was of his own accord that he attacked Larxene, or Roxas’. He didn’t have time to dwell over it though.

Sora turned to Kairi and Riku, the dark tendrils holding them captive also seemed to be there only support, when they disappeared, Sora’s two best friends gently floated to the sand below.Sora swam after them, he held Kairi in his arms and made sure she still had a pulse, which thankfully, she did. The brunette set her down gently and swam over to Riku, who was still conscious, but very weak. “Sora.” The silverette managed to croak out before he shut his aquamarine eyes and let exhaustion take over. Sora turned to look at Ienzo who was checking Lea’s wound which was bleeding profusely.

               “Ienzo, is he going to be alright?” Sora asked, his voice sounding very strained, and he realized that he had an ache in his chest that belonged to Roxas.

               “It’s hard to tell, we should get them all back to Master Yen Sid as soon as possible.” Sora nods and gently grabs Kairi and Riku and swims towards the Gummi ship. Ienzo picks up Lea and does the same.  As the brunette starts the Gummi ship, a tear falls from his cheek, but not his own. _Roxas? Please don’t cry, we’ll do everything we can to save him. I promise._

               Sora doesn’t hear anything for a minute or two. _I can’t lose my Best Friend again Sora, I can’t._ Sora only nods as he lands the Gummi ship in back of Yen Sid’s tower. Sora sees mops rush out of the tower each wearing an apron with a red cross on it. _Medical mops?_ Sora opens the Gummi ship and not so gracefully jumps out as the Medical mops jump in grabbing Kairi, Riku and Lea and began to carry them inside. Sora and Ienzo rushed in after them, clambering up the steps to Yen Sid’s study. The mops rush the three Keys to another room slamming the door and locking it before Sora could enter.

               “Hey!” Sora exclaimed while jiggling the door handle.

               “Sora.” The brunette turned towards the old wizard who had rumbled Sora’s name. “They will do everything they are able to make sure the three of them survive. While we wait, let’s sit and discuss events thus far.” Yen Sid turned and walked back to his chair. Sora noticed that Ienzo began to walk toward the exit, but Yen Sid interrupted him. “You as well Ienzo, I’m sure Sora is very curious as to who you are and how you were able to find him.” The brunette was indeed very curious, so he sat down in a chair in front of Yen Sid’s desk as a few mops brought in another chair for Ienzo to sit in. “Very good.” The wizard said as Ienzo sat down. “Now Sora why don’t you catch us up on what you have been doing.”

               Sora slouched back in his chair and began to tell his story, he told them about how he had gone back to Traverse Town, and from there found his way to Castle Oblivion. He didn’t mention Isa because he didn’t know how the old wizard and former Nobody would react. As he continued his story, his blue eyes kept traveling to the door that the mops had taken his friends through. He told about his visits with Ventus, and his visits into Ven’s memories. Master Yen Sid seemed especially intrigued by the fact that Ven had contacted Sora, but he didn’t interrupt, he only stroked his beard thoughtfully. Sora told about his visits to Twilight Town, also leaving out his exchanges with Roxas, they just felt too personal to talk about. He did however, talk about Pickles. Ienzo cringed at the mention of the orange mass of fur as he looked at the new set of claw marks to his white lab coat. As the brunette ended his story with his visit to Atlantica, his eyes again drifted to the locked door.

               “Well Sora you certainly have been busy. I am anxious to see what Ven thinks he will accomplish by contacting you.” As the old wizard spoke, a small mouse made his way into the study. The king’s ear’s pricked up at the mention of his friend’s name.

                “Ven’s contacted you?!” Mickey asked as he ran over to Sora.

               Sora nodded and said, “He’s been showing me his memories, he wants me to know what happened him.” His eyes glanced back to the door.

               “Gosh! That’s great news isn’t it Master Yen Sid?” The old wizard nodded and turned toward Ienzo.

               “Ienzo does your machine work successfully?”

               “Yes sir, I was able to make it to Sora’s location without any problems.” The grey haired man said rather excitedly. “Everything worked splendidly and Even and I finally got the locater to work so we won’t have to be so dependent on my nose. Even even got it to make a really neat dinging sound as-”

               “Wait what?” The young brunette asked staring at Ienzo rather confused. “What machine? And you can sniff people out like a dog?”           

               Ienzo bristled at that comment. “Please don’t compare me with a dog, and the machine is very simple, it can successfully open portals to other worlds, however, there is a catch, the same amount of people who go through the portal, have to come back. No more, no less. If two people go through, two _must_ come back. Even and I are attempting to work around that factor, but we have yet to find a solution.”

               “Ok I see, but why would we need a machine when our Keyblades can open paths for us Master Yen Sid?” Sora asked turning his big blue eyes towards the wizard.

               “Some worlds are not within the reach of the Keyblade. That is why Sora, we need to reach the Dark Realm to save a very important person.” Before Sora could ask who or why, Medical mops came into the room.

               Sora jumped out of his seat and tried to run towards his friends, but was held back by other mops that were quite large and wore sunglasses. _Bouncer mops?_ Sora thought. _You’ve got to be kidding me._ The Medical mops walked over to Yen Sid and whispered something in the wise wizard’s ear as the Bouncer mops held Sora firmly. Master Yen Sid let out a low rumble in response to what the Medical mop said. “Kairi and Riku are fine, they are conscious, but need their rest. You can see them in the morning Sora.”

               Sora felt a sense of relief wash over him as he heard this. He nodded and the Bouncer mops let him go. He felt a tugging in his heart as he shuffled back to his seat. “What about Lea?” The brunette asked.

               Master Yen Sid let out another thoughtful rumble before saying, “He is stable, however, Buford does not know when our newest Key will awake.” Sora felt Roxas wilt at that statement.

               “Buford?” Ienzo asked. The Medical mop turned towards him and gave him a small salute. Ienzo blinked aquamarine eyes in response. “You named your magical mops?” He asked turning towards Yen Sid.

               “Mickey did while he was still my apprentice, but that is a story that can wait. Buford also does not know how long Lea will stay stable, there is a small probability that he will never wake up.” Yen Sid looked straight at Sora when he said this, however, Sora knew that the words weren’t intended for him. “We will do everything we can to prevent that though. Now, you should get some rest, you may sleep here for the night if you wish, and you may visit with Kairi and Riku in the morning.” Sora nodded and made his way towards the spare bedrooms.

               Once he was gone, Ienzo turned to Yen Sid. “How small of a chance?” He asked referring to Lea dying.

               The old wizard turned towards the former Nobody with a grave look and said, “Not as small as I would like.”

               Ienzo nodded and stood up to leave. He took a small device that looked like a remote out of his pocket. “We would appreciate it if you kept us updated with the situation, and we in turn will do that same with our research.” The wizard nodded in agreement. “Then I shall be seeing you Master Yen Sid.” And with that Ienzo clicked a button on his remote and was gone.

               “Gosh, I sure hope everything turns out okay.” Mickey said with a forlorn look.

               Master Yen Sid turned towards Buford, “What can we do about the poison?”

               “Poison?!” Mickey asked in shock.

               “When examining Lea’s wound, Buford found traces of Deadly Nightshade, a type of poisonous herb found in Halloween town, the residents are somewhat immune to it, however, to an outsider like Lea it is extremely deadly. I didn’t want to tell Sora, for fear of how he and his Nobody would react, it’s bad enough I had to lie and tell them the chance was small, when in truth, the possibility is very high.”

               Mickey shifted his shocked expression to Buford who nodded in conformation. “What can we do?”

               “We try to find an antidote, that is all we can do.” Master Yen Sid turned his gaze toward Buford, “How many days until the poison kills him?”

               Buford held up his right hand, he only has four fingers.


	13. Chapter 13

Riku opened his aquamarine eyes to find that he wasn’t in his bed. He tried to sit up, but felt a sharp stab of pain, not only in his torso from his previous injury, but now everywhere. He groaned and brought his hand up to rub his head, he noticed bruises peppering his left arm, he looked at his right arm and noticed the same. _Oh, right, Larxene. Those dark tendrils must have done this._ He set his arm down and looked around the room. It was quite large, and had four beds, one in each corner of the room. Riku’s bed was closest to the door, so he could see the rest of the room fairly easily. His saw his clothes, along with Kairi’s and Lea’s, hanging in an open wardrobe next to the bed across from his. It was then that he noticed he was wearing nothing but underwear and a thin hospital garment.

               He turned his attention back to his surroundings, the bed across from his was empty, however, in the bed to his left he could see Kairi sleeping. He noticed the same bruises peppering her skin as well. He looked towards the bed across from hers, and saw Lea’s wild red spikes, however, his face looked pale and his chest rose up and down very slowly. As Riku closed his eyes in an attempt to get back to sleep he heard the loud voice of his best friend. “Master Yen Sid, can I go in and see them NOW?!” Riku smiled hearing Sora’s voice, and decided to act asleep just to torture him.

               “If they are awake yes, but if they are still sleeping, do not bother them.” The old wizard said sternly as Riku tried to wipe the grin off his face.

               Sora bounced into the room and looked at his friends, Kairi was still sleeping, and across from her Lea was as well, he knew he would be, but he still felt Roxas droop looking at him. He turned to his left and saw the Riku’s eyes were closed, but Sora could tell that he was trying to hide a smile. Sora snuck over to Riku and tickled his nose with some of his silver hair. Riku jumped, and then laughed. “Sora!” The silverette said laughing.

               Sora laughed and said, “I got you! You can’t trick me.” The two laughed together for a little while longer.

               “Will you help me sit up?” Riku asked, “I’ve got another wound that isn’t exactly cooperating.”

               “Of course!” Sora said excitedly as he lifted Riku into sitting position and piled pillows behind him for support. “There you go!”

               “Thanks Sora. So do you know how the other two are?” Riku asked nodding his head in Kairi’s and Lea’s direction.

               “Yeah! Kairi’s gunna be just fine, Buford said she just-”

               “Buford?”

               “The medical mop who took care of you guys! Anyways, Buford said you two just needed rest. But Lea on the other hand…” Sora turned his blue eyes towards the floor. “Buford said he was stable, but he didn’t know when he would wake up. He said that there was even a small chance that he could die.”

               Riku turned to look at Lea. _Well that explains how pale he is._ “Don’t worry.” Riku said turning his aquamarine eyes back to the brunette, “He’ll pull through.” Sora nodded as a broom walked in with a tray of food and set it in Riku’s lap. “Thank you.” Riku said as the broom gave him a small salute and then turned to leave. “Wait, are you Buford?”

               “No that’s Steve.” Sora said.

               “You’ve learned the names already? I didn’t even know they had names.” Riku said with a laugh. “Thank you for the food Steve.” The broom gave another salute and then walked out of the room.

               “I only know his name because he made me breakfast this morning.” Sora said as Riku ate a piece of toast.

               Riku nodded and asked, “So what have you been up to?”

               Sora jumped excitedly and told Riku the same story he told Yen Sid and Ienzo last night, leaving out Roxas and Isa again. “So wait.” Riku said. “Please don’t tell me you left your cat all alone in Castle Oblivion.”

“No! I went and checked on him this morning, I fed him and everything! There’s one more thing though. If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone. Promise?” Riku nodded as he took a drink of his chocolate milk. “Good.” Sora jumped up and locked the door. He then looked over to Kairi and Lea to make sure that they were asleep and then he turned back to Riku. “I met Saix’s somebody, he’s been helping me.”

“Wait you met Isa?” Riku said setting down his toast.

“Yeah, how did you know his name?” Sora asked

“Lea told me about him and ho-”

“How they use to be best friends.” Sora finished. Riku nodded and motioned for Sora to continue, so he did. He told Riku how Isa helped him find Castle Oblivion and how Xehanort is possessing him and even about the conversations he has had with him.

When Sora was finished, he looked over at Lea and Kairi again, to make sure that they didn’t hear a word. “Wow, could the same be true for the other members, Larxene and Marluxia and Xigbar? Could they all really just be possessed?”

Sora nodded and said, “Yup, before my heart fell, in the sleeping worlds, Xigbar said that he was already half Xehanort.”

Riku hummed thoughtfully, “Then it could be possible to save them, but the question is how? And an even _bigger_ question is, when Lea wakes up, do we tell him?”

Sora shrugged and opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a sharp cough. Sora and Riku snapped their heads toward the other side of the room and saw Lea struggling to sit up. “Tell…. tell… tell.. Lea.. what when he.. wakes up?”

“Lea no! Don’t move, you could just hurt yourself worse!” Sora and Riku shouted simultaneously. Sora sprinted over and eased Lea back down on his pillow. “There,” Sora said, “now don’t move. I’m going to get Master Yen Sid and Buford.”

Lea groaned in pain as Sora ran out of the room. “Hey Riku, would you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“In my pants pocket… there is… a popsicle stick…. with the word WINNER…. printed on it…. could you grab…. it for me? Please?” Lea sounded so weak that Riku couldn’t refuse, so he got up, rather slowly, and walked over to the wardrobe grabbing Lea’s pants and fished out the popsicle stick. He also took this opportunity to put his pants back on so he could take off the awful hospital gown. He walked over to Lea and put the popsicle stick in his weak grasp. Now that Riku was closer he could see how pale he had gotten just in the matter of hours, his red spikes were drooping down and framing his face. However, his lively green eyes hadn’t lost their sparkle. “Thank…. you.” Riku nodded and began to turn away but Lea started to speak again. “Before… I woke…. up.. what were.. you and Sora.. talking.. talking about? I…  I thought… I heard you…. say Isa….” Before he could finish his sentence he passed out again.

Sora ran in with Master Yen Sid, but before Sora could explode, Riku put a finger to his lips and gestured towards Lea. Sora shut his mouth and Yen Sid motioned for Riku to follow him out of the room to his study. Riku followed Sora and Yen Sid out of the room. Once the three of them were out in the study, Master Yen Sid asked, “What did he say?”

“He just asked me to grab a popsicle stick out of his pocket for him.”

“A popsicle stick?” Sora asked

“Yeah it said WINNER on it-” Before Riku could finish his sentence, he saw tears run down Sora’s face. “Sora what’s wrong?”

“I’m not crying, it’s Roxas, he gave Lea that popsicle stick before he left the Organization.”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Riku asked

“Busted.” Sora muttered under his breath. “Well, ever since the Mark of Mastery, I can hear Roxas talking to me and he’s showed me his memories of the Organization.”

“Why did you keep it from us?” Master Yen Sid asked.

Sora looked down at his feet and rubbed his toe in the ground and said, “Because I didn’t know how you would react.”

“Well it was to be expected, Roxas has his own naturally strong being, I didn’t think he would easily be contained.” Master Yen Sid said. “Now, Riku, you should go and rest.”

Riku nodded and turned towards Sora. “So, are you going back to Oblivion?” Sora nodded and gave him a smile that said it all, he was going back for Isa. If there was a way to save him, Sora was going to find it. Riku smiled and said his goodbye and then went to lie back down. As he walked in the room, he saw that Kairi was still sleeping contently with a smile on her face. He looked at Lea and noticed that his breathing had become shallow and shaky and he still had the WINNER stick weakly grasped in his hand. _Something’s off, Master Yen Sid is hiding something._ Before Riku could decide to question the wizard or not, he was hit with a wave of exhaustion so he decided against it and stripped out of his jeans. As his head hit the pillow, he drifted off to sleep.

XxXxXxXx

“Are you sure you wish to leave so soon?” Master Yen Sid asked Sora after Riku had gone to lie back down.

Sora nodded and said, “Yeah, I feel closer to Ven there. I’m afraid that if I’m not there Ven won’t be able to tell me anymore of his memories.”

Yen Sid nodded and stroked his beard in reply, so Sora said his goodbyes and left for Castle Oblivion. Just then, the three loyal animals of the Disney kingdom walked in. “Just in time, I was about to send for you three. Have you filled Donald and Goofy in on Lea’s condition Mickey?”

The mouse nodded and said, “Yup and we’re ready to do whatever it takes to get an antidote.” Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement.

“Well then that’s good, however, since most residents of Halloween Town are immune if not only mildly affected, so there is no known antidote. I have informed Ienzo and Even of the situation, they have agreed to help make one. They have already begun to experiment. Now I want you three, to search other worlds and see if you can find an antidote. We aren’t positive that Deadly Nightshade only resides in Halloween Town. Search every world you can, and report back to me daily, we have three and a half days, and if no antidote can be found, then not only will we lose one of our Lights, but also one of our dear friends. Now make haste and good luck.” Mickey, Donald, and Goofy bowed and left towards the Gummi ship. Master Yen Sid sat down at his desk and continued reading his book on poisons and antidotes. There are some things even a great wizard can not do. 


	14. Chapter 14

Dark blue eyes opened to a darkly lit room and soft snores coming from the right corner of the room. Kairi slowly sat up as she remembered what happened in Atlantica. She looked in the direction the snores were coming from and saw Riku sleeping peacefully in a bed closest to the door. She then looked at the bed across from hers and saw Lea laying there with a pained expression on his face as a few beads of sweat fell from his forehead. His skin was a little paler and his bright red spikes were deflated framing his face. _He looks awful, I hope he is going to be alright._ She stared at Lea a little longer, watching him take in deep ragged breaths. _Sora!_ She remembered and quickly scrambled out of bed, throwing on her clothes and began to run towards the door, but had to stop and use the empty bed for support as she finally felt the soreness of her body. She took a few deep breaths to settle her pain and after a few she stood back up and walked out the door. She saw Master Yen Sid lying on an open book he must have been reading before falling asleep at his desk. Kairi smiled at the comical sight of the powerful old wizard sleeping away at his desk. She moved her gaze around the room, looking for anyone, but specifically Sora. She saw a light on in the kitchen, so she headed that way.

Opening the door, she saw a broom tiding up and she noticed the clock on the wall said it was 3 in the morning. “Excuse me?” She interrupted the broom. Once it turned towards her she asked, “Is Sora still here?” The broom let out a series of tinkling noises and drum beats. Kairi frowned and said, “I’m sorry I don’t understand.” The broom seemed to nod his handle in understanding and walked over to a drawer bringing out a pencil and a piece of paper. He wrote in very neat and swirly cursive Kairi noticed, for a broom.

No, he left this afternoon. The note said.

“Oh,” Kairi said feeling her heart drop. She had wanted to talk to him before he left, she missed him dearly. “Well are Riku and Lea going to be ok?” She said wondering about the condition she saw Lea in.

Riku is just fine, he was awake earlier and moving about just fine. The broom wrote. However, Lea is questionable, he is stable, but Buford doesn’t know how long that will last. Buford is another mop by the way and my name is Steve. The broom finished.

Kairi nodded and said, “Thank you Steve, that’s all I wanted to know.”

Are you hungry? Steve wrote.

“Now that you mention it, I guess I am.” Kairi said with a small smile.

Sit down then, and I’ll make you a sandwich. He wrote. Kairi sat at the same table she had that very morning and watched the broom move easily around the small kitchen. She hoped that Lea would be alright, but she wished desperately that Sora would have stayed until she had gotten to see him. A small frown set on her face as she wondered about Sora. _Why had he left so quickly? Didn’t he want to see Riku and I?_ Steve sat a plate in front of her and a glass of water, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Thank you Steve.” She said as she began to eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwich the broom had made her. Steve nodded and left the kitchen, leaving Kairi alone.

A few minutes passed, as Kairi thought about Sora, before Steve came back into the kitchen. I was waking Master, told him he needs to sleep in a real bed. Kairi nodded.

“Why had he fallen asleep reading anyways?” Steve shrugged and continued tidying up the already spotless kitchen to his preferences. Kairi finished her sandwich and took the last drink of her water. She thanked Steve for the sandwich and began to leave the kitchen. Steve nodded his handle as Kairi walked out.

 Back in Yen Sid’s study she noticed that the old wizard had gotten up, but failed to put the book he had been reading away. Kairi let curiosity get the better of her and she snuck over to sneak a peek, but as she tried to read it, she found that she couldn’t read it. She could see that it was in perfect English, however, she couldn’t comprehend any of it, no matter how hard she tried to read it. It was beginning to give her a headache, so she pulled away from it with a sigh. _Probably some of Yen Sid’s magic._ She thought as she rubbed the side of her head and walked back to the room she was in before.

She looked at Riku who was still sprawled out in his bed snoring contently. She crawled back into her bed and stared at Lea worriedly before drifting back off to sleep.

XxXxXxXx

As Ienzo worked on extracting antibodies from a lab rat they had injected with Deadly Nightshade, he heard Even grumbling about how he shouldn’t be doing this for someone who killed him as he did the same. “I don’t understand why you keep brooding over that, we were Nobodies, and in fact, if he hadn’t killed you, you wouldn’t be here today as a complete person.” Ienzo said as he mixed the antibodies with a formula they had concocted that should counteract the poison.

Even let out a large sigh and was silent as he mixed the other antibodies with a different formula they had made that could also counter the poison. They still didn’t know which one was really going to work, if any, so they were trying both. “Even so,” Even said in his icy voice as he turned ice cold jade eyes towards Ienzo, “He still did it, which gives me every right to state why it isn’t justified.”

“More like bitch about it.” Said a deeper voice, Even growled in Aeleus’ direction as the large man walked into the lab. “Any luck?” he asked turning in Ienzo’s direction.

“We haven’t been able to test the actual antidote yet, we have to wait for it to completely mix with the antibodies, which takes about an hour. However, we have run many simulations on all the formulas we made, and have narrowed it down to two that should work.” Aeleus nodded, and being the man of few words that he was, he turned and walked out of the lab, doubtlessly going to update Dilan, who was still brooding over how cruel he was as a Nobody. Having a heart was affecting him most out of the five former Nobodies.

As Even grumbled about his apparently “unfair” life, Ienzo ran more simulations on the next sequence of formulas the two scientists had prepared in case the other two didn’t have the desired affects. They couldn’t waste any time. No matter how much Even griped, they all knew that they couldn’t let Xehanort win. If Lea died it would cause too many problems for the Keyblade wielders, and then Xehanort just might.

XxXxXxX

“Gwarsh, I sure hope they have an antidote for this!” Goofy said as he, Mickey, and Donald ran towards the city in the Land of Dragons, having found an herb that was exactly like the Deadly Nightshade.

“I sure hope they do!” Donald quacked as he sprinted to keep pace with Goofy’s long strides.

“Come on Fellas!” Mickey shouted a few yards ahead of them, having cast a haste spell on himself. “I can see the city


	15. Chapter 15

“So Terra just left after his Mark of Mastery?” Sora asked looking up at the stars with Ven in their dream world.

               “Yup, and of course I followed because of what Vanitas had said. He said Terra would lose himself and I didn’t want that.” Ven said “Soon after I left, chasing Terra, Aqua came to chase us both, and bring us back.”

               “Jeez, that stinks, all you guys wanted was to protect each other.” Sora said scratching the top of his head.

               Ven nodded, “Yeah, it did stink. I met Maleficent in her world; she said that Terra was responsible for stealing Aurora’s heart. I didn’t believe her at first, but when she almost had me convinced, Aqua showed up. She said that Terra would never do such a thing. I believed her; however, I know now that it was Terra, Maleficent was able to influence him.”

               Sora looked at Ven with an apologetic face; Ven continued his story, not realizing the way Sora looked at him.

               “After that I ran away from Aqua because she wanted to take me home. The next time we all met again was in Radiant Garden.”

               Sora’s eyes began to droop, and he realized Ven was putting him to sleep to show him a memory.

               _Ven chased an Unversed through the town, ending up in an open area behind a factory. “Terra! Aqua!” he shouted upon seeing that his friends had been led there as well. “Ven!” The two eldest teens shouted as they saw their young friend. They were interrupted by a robotic like Unversed assembled itself and began to attack the three._

_Ven, Terra and Aqua began to fight back, defending each other and then attacking, they fought like a well-oiled machine. Aqua jumped, implementing a deadly blow, then Terra and Ven attacked together, sealing the deal. The Unversed disappeared in a cloud of darkness._

_“Got him!” Terra said smiling_

_“We make a good team!” Aqua exclaimed also smiling._

_Ven smiled as well, and in response said, “Sure do!” Ven smiled wider, content with having his two best friends there with him. “Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I got you these tickets, life-time passes to Disney town!” Ven said as he handed a ticket each to Aqua and Terra. “He said, he said to bring two grown-ups!”_

_“You mean us?” Aqua asked. Terra and Aqua shared a look and laughed lightly at their friend’s innocence. “Listen to me Ven, we need to get you home.”_

_“Don’t worry Aqua! That guy in the mask is history! He won’t be bad-mouthing Terra again!” Ven said confidently._

_Terra grabbed Ven’s shoulder roughly, “You saw the boy in the mask?”_

_“Y-yes.” Ven said uncertain of what had made his friend’s mood change so quickly._

_“Ven, you let Aqua take you home.” Terra said letting go of Ven’s shoulder._

_“No way!” Ven said, his blue eyes looking between his friends, “I wanna go with you guys!”_

_“You can’t, we have a dangerous task ahead of us, I don’t want you to get hurt.” Terra said looking at Ven with pleading eyes._

_“What exactly is this dangerous task Terra?” Aqua asked interrupting the boys’ conversation. “It doesn’t sound like what Master told you to do.”_

_“It might be a different route, but I’m still fighting the darkness.” Terra said beginning to get defensive._

_“I’m not so sure.” Aqua said sadly. “I’ve been to the same worlds as you, and I’ve seen what you’ve done. You shouldn’t put yourself so close to the darkness.”_

_Ven, having heard enough looked at Aqua and said, “Listen to yourself Aqua! Terra would never do-”_

_“You mean you’ve been spying on me?” Terra asked with a false calm. “Is that what_ your master _said to do? Were those his orders.”_

_“He was only-” Aqua paused, not finding the right words._

_Ven looked at her with pleading gaze, but after the few seconds of silence he said her name very disappointed in her._

_“I get it.” Terra said bitterly, and began to walk away._

_“Terra!” Ven called as he ran after him._

_“Just stay put!” Terra yelled. “I’m on my own now, alright?!” He began to walk away as Aqua called after him._

_“Terra! Please, just listen! The Master had no reason to distrust you! He was just worried!” Terra ignored her and continued to walk away._

_“You’re awful Aqua.” Ven said looking at her disappointed._

_“But now you know the truth, the master loves Terra, and you know that too.”_

_“Were you also ‘ordered’ to take me home?” Aqua hung her head at Ven’s question. “I’m gunna go find Terra.” Ven said in response to her silence. Aqua looked to the ground as he ran off._

“Before I could find Terra, I saved a young boy surrounded by a group of Unversed.” Sora heard Ven’s voice in his dream, as he watched the events that Ven described to him play out. “A blond haired man pointed me in Terra’s direction.” Sora’s dream shifted to a new area, an open place with a gazebo in the center, and flower bed’s surrounding the outskirts. He saw Ven running towards Terra. “I asked him to take me with him, but he said no. He said that when he really needed me, he knew I would be there, and then he left.

               I ran back to tell Aqua he had left. She said that she should go to then. When I asked if _she_ would take me, she said no as well. She told me to go home, and she left as well.” Sora again saw his dream shift to show what Ven described. He was in the main square, talking to Aqua. Then he saw Aqua put on her armor and leave.

               “After that, I sat against a wall and twirled the toy sword that Terra had given me some time back. It was there that I met two people who you have recently become very familiar with.” Ven said. Sora felt Ven go quiet, and sound returned to Sora’s dream.

_Ven twirled the wooden Keyblade in the air several times, before dropping it on accident. He was about to get up and reach for it, but someone beat him to it. A boy about Ven’s age, with short spikey red hair sticking up and dazzling emerald eyes, he picked up the toy and swung it experimentally a few times before looking at Ven and asking, “This yours?”_

_“Lea, we don’t have time for this.” Said another boy with azure hair cropped to his shoulders, and green eyes._

_“Lighten up Isa, it’ll only take a sec.” Lea said winking at Isa. Isa rolled his eyes, but stayed quiet. Lea walked over to Ven. “You still play with toy swords? That’s cute.” He said as he offered the wooden toy back to Ven. Ven gave him a grumpy look, not wanting to be bothered, and ignored the offered toy. Lea through the toy to the side, and seeing this as an opportunity to show off, he said, “Now this right here, tada! Whaddya think?” He pulled out two Frisbees, identical to each other with a little smiling flame on each._

_“Not a whole lot.” Ven said looking away irritated._

_“You’re just jealous!” Lea said cheekily. “I’m Lea, Got it Memorized?”_ Sora heard Roxas laugh at the familiar catch phrase. _“What’s your name?” Lea asked._

_“Ventus.” The blond said still irritated._

_The red head smiled and said, “Okay Ventus! Let’s fight!”_

_Ven looked at the obnoxious boy confused and asked, “Fight? Why would I wanna do that?!”_

_“You scared of losing.” Lea taunted. “C’mon. I hope you’re ready!”_

_Ven glared at the obnoxious boy, but had a change of heart, and stood up smiling at Lea. “You’re gunna be sorry!” Isa watched as Ven and Lea clashed in a friendly fight. He rolled his eyes as Lea fell just after 3 minutes of sparring. And like the arrogant boy Lea is, “You- you had enough, ‘cuz- ‘cuz I’m willing to call it a draw if you are!” he said panting._

_Ven looked at him and smiled. “Right.” He said._

_“From where I stood, the only thing you_ drew _was a big_ L _on your forehead, for ‘Loser’, ‘Lame’, ‘Laughable’.” Isa said walking towards the two._

_“Wha? You wanna go Sassafrass?” Lea said. “This is the part where you’re supposed to cheer me up! ‘You’re just having a bad day!’ or ‘That’s what you get for pulling your punches!’ Some friend.”_

_“Oh, I wasn’t aware you wanted me to lie.” Isa said smiling down at his friend who was still on the ground. “Now come on dumbass, get off the ground.”_

_“Ya see what I gotta put up with?” Lea said looking at Ven as he lied back on the ground, “Sure hope you don’t have friends like him.”  Lea smiled up at Isa as the three began laughing._

_“Lea, we have to go.” Isa said walking away from his friend._

_“ ‘Kay.” Lea said as he got up off the ground._

_“You’re leaving?” Ven asked a little sadly._

_“I’ll see you when I see you, after all, we’re friends now.” Lea paused looking back at Ven who smiled at him. “Get it memorized.”_

               Sora woke up, still in his and Ven’s dream world, the stars hanging over-head. Sora smiled thinking of Lea and Isa’s banter. _I wish they could still have that._ Sora thought to himself. “Well, there you have it, our story’s almost finished.” Ven said

               “It’s a sad ending, isn’t it?” Sora asked knowing the answer. Ven looked away, not meeting Sora’s gaze. Then, Sora woke up.

XxXxXxX

               Sora opened his cerulean eyes to see Isa sitting in a bean bag chair Sora had moved into his room at Castle Oblivion. Isa was casually petting Pickles as he read a Newspaper. Sora yawned, and asked, “Is that paper any good?”

               Isa looked up at him and said, “I have no idea, it’s from 50 years ago.” Sora laughed and got up to use the restroom. When he got back out, he noticed that Isa had brought him another bag of supplies. “How have you been?” Isa asked throwing the Newspaper on the ground.

               “Well pretty okay actually, I got to see Riku, Kairi, and Lea! They were in Atlantica, Larxene had them trapped and she stabbed Lea. Master Yen-”

               “WHAT!” Isa shouted standing up so abruptly that Pickles fell off his lap, but he landed on his feet and sprinted under the bed. Sora stared wide-eyed at the rage in Isa’s green eyes. “She did what!” He repeated, his voice slightly quieter than before, but not much.

               “S-she stabbed him.” Sora stuttered “But Master Yen Sid said that he would be ok!” Sora shouted hurriedly as Isa’s eyes practically glowed with anger. _Sora, be careful! He’s angry, there is no telling what he’ll do!_ Sora heard Roxas caution him.

               “I’ve got to go.” Isa said, his voice dangerously low. “I brought you more supplies, and I’ll visit you when I can.”

               “Isa are you okay?” Sora asked taking a step towards him.

               “I’m just fine.” He said opening a corridor of darkness. “I just need to go put some trash in her place.” With that he walked through the portal and out of sight.

               Sora saw Pickles peeking out from under the bed, he looked at the cat and said, “Uh oh.”

               _Uh oh’s right, if Isa is anything like Saix, you don’t wanna mess with him when he’s angry._ Roxas said.

XxXxXxX

               Isa stormed into the Grey Area, where Larxene and Marluxia were sitting together on a couch, and Xigbar in his chair. “LARXENE!” He shouted. The Savage Nymph jumped at the Berserker’s voice.

               “What?” She asked sharply turning towards the rage filled bluenette.

               “What did you do to Lea?!” He shouted

               “I just stabbed him, and thanks to Marly, I had some Deadly Nightshade to coat the blade in.” She smiled sickenly sweet. “What do you care, he’s not on our side.”

               “Xehanort needs all of the Keyblade wielders ALIVE!” Isa shouted again. Xigbar watched the scene unfold unsure of what to do.

               “Oh please, that’s not why you’ve got your wolf-ass in a twist about this. You could care less what Xehanort wants anymore. I see your eyes, they used to be yellow, but now they’ve reverted back to green.” She said standing up and slowly stalking towards Isa. Her voice dripping with sugar-filled venom, she stopped in front of him. “It’s okay, you can admit you’ve got a little gay crush on him.”

               Isa snapped. He raised his hand and slapped Larxene, the force sent her flying towards the glass windows. Her body caused small cracks appear in the glass. Before she had a chance to stand, Isa was towering over her. He picked her up by the front of her jacket and slammed her into the glass, more cracks appearing. Marluxia got up to intervene, but Xigbar stopped him.

               “WE NEED HIM ALIVE! THERE IS _NO_ _ANTIDOTE_ TO DEADLY NIGHTSHADE! HE WILL DIE!” With each word he slammed her body into the glass, causing her head to bleed.

               “Alright! Stop! Please!” Larxene pleaded. “I’m sorry!”

               “Sorry won’t make an antidote.” Isa said his voice now dangerously low as he felt the impulse to rip out her throat.

               “Marly made an antidote. Please let go.” She said weakly, she felt light-headed from the loss of blood. He let go of her and she dropped to the floor silently.

               He turned to Marluxia and said, “Give me that damn antidote.”

               Marluxia, terrified, ran off to get the antidote.


	16. Chapter 16

_He was running, but… he didn’t know what from. He rounded a corner, dashing into an alley, hoping to have a minute to catch his breath. However,_ **it** _knew,_ **it** _couldn’t be fooled._ **It** _rounded the same corner, and emerald eyes connected with suffocating red, dark tendrils spiraled off of_ **it _._** _He had to think fast, as_ **it** _began to stalk closer. He scanned the alley and saw a fire-escape he could climb up, and without looking back at_ **it** _he ran for his escape. He jumped onto the ladder, his height making it a short jump, he climbed, and climbed, and climbed, never once looking down. He reached the top, but his pant leg got caught on a piece of broken metal. As he ripped his leg free, the metal sliced along his lower leg; however, this didn’t faze him. He could sense that_ **it** _was closing in on him. He got up and ran, now with a slight limp, his chest heaving with effort, he snuck a look back._ **It** _had just gotten to the top of the building, he smiled at the small fortune, the thing seemed to only move so fast. Or it could be playing with him._

 _Pushing all negative thoughts out of his mind, he jumped the gap between his building, to the next._ Let’s hope **it** can’t jump, _he thought to himself. He stopped to give himself a break, to watch if_ **it** _would be able to get over the gap. Gasping for air, he watched the thing approach the edge of the building. The gap didn’t seem to faze_ **it** _as the dark tendrils creeped over the gap with ease. He watched in horror, his chest now heaving with something else,_ **fear** _, as the tendrils connected with the other side of the gap._ **It** _began to glide over the makeshift bridge, he turned and ran, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, as_ **it** _stalked toward him. Panting, he stopped at a building’s edge, the building next to it, too tall to jump to. He turned and saw that_ **it** _was still crossing the last gap. He scanned the side of each building, hoping for a fire escape on either one. Nothing. He looked back at_ **it,** _he had spent too much time thinking,_ **it** _had caught up._

_The dark tendrils wrapped around his lithe body, encasing him in a terrifying cocoon._

XxXxXxXx

            _He awoke, finding himself in a dark, desolate area. Looking around, he made out the shapes of, what must have been hundreds of Keyblades. He tried to stand; however, the leg he had cut earlier caused him too much pain. He examined the wound, it was red and puffy, perhaps infected, looking at it made him sick. He looked away and ignored the pain as he stood. On top of a small plateau he saw a glow, looking around once more and noticing nothing else of interest, he moved toward the plateau. It was bitter work with his leg in such an atrocious condition, but he pressed on. Walking through the field of lifeless Keyblades, he felt a sense of dread, and sadness, and confusion. He couldn’t decipher why he felt as he did, he didn’t dwell on it. Finding a small path up the plateau, he soon found himself facing what was emanating the glow. It was a small group of Keyblades, seven, he recognized five out of the seven. He saw Way to Dawn, Kingdom Key, Destiny’s Embrace, Star Seeker, and his very own Phoenix Wing. The two other blades, he failed to recognize; however, he assumed they were the other two Lights._

 _As he limped closer to the blades, they began cracking and the glow faded. He took a step back, hoping to stop the reaction, but it was too late, they each shattered, and the glow was enveloped in the same dark tendrils that brought him here. His breath became ragged as a form began to take shape,_ **it** _was here. He fell back as the tendrils reached for him, he couldn’t move. The fear had paralyzed him, the tendrils encased him again. As they retreated, he saw not the Keyblades shattered before him, but his friends’ broken bodies. He saw Sora and Riku lying on the ground bleeding, Sora’s arm, and Riku’s leg both twisted at awkward angles. He wanted to look away, but he couldn’t, he looked next to Sora and Riku, and found Kairi’s fragile body, pale and ice-cold. Her eyes were wide-open, but dead inside. Mickey was nowhere to be found; however, two other bodies were laying on the plateau, a delicate blue-hair girl, her body pale and lifeless. Looking at the other body, a tear formed in his eye. Lying there was a gentle blond boy with cerulean eyes, once filled with light, but now empty._ Roxas. _He thought to himself, but no wait,_ This is Ven, the boy I met so long ago. _He remembered._

 _The worst was not over though, lying a few feet away from his friends was another body, this one he recognized all too well. A mess of azure hair, lifeless green eyes staring at him, tears fell from his eyes, as he saw the gaping wound in the bluenette’s chest._ Isa _,he said crawling towards his friend. He sobbed as he reached him, seeing the damage up close, he laid his head on the ground, and wept with no restraint. The pain of seeing them, his_ friends, _in such brutal states, too much for him to bear. As he wept, he heard a voice, “Don’t you see?”_ **it** _hissed, “This is what it will come to if you try to fight, it is pointless to resist.”_

 _He looked up from the ground and dazzling life-filled emerald met dull, dead green. He felt a pain in his chest, looking down he saw that a wound in his chest was now bleeding profusely. Looking around, he met the red eyes of **IT** , now understanding that it was a nightmare, similar to the one Riku had to fight to protect Sora, he held his head high. In a strong voice, “We will _not _fail!” Lea said before passing out._

XxXxXxXx

            Riku looked over at Kairi, who was now sleeping peacefully; he smiled as she let out a little snore. He turned his gaze to Lea who look simply awful, beads of sweat found their way on his forehead, and his spikes completely deflated, and some strands matted to his face. His breathing was very heavy and he looked completely unhealthy. Riku looked away and got out of the bed, feeling healed and in tip-top shape. He walked out to Master Yen Sid’s study, and what he saw shocked him, he summoned his Keyblade a little wary, no matter what Sora said.

            Standing in front of the wizards desk, was Isa, his azure hair a little disheveled, but Riku noted his eyes were green as opposed to their natural yellow. Isa held his arms up in peace, and Master Yen Sid stood up. “Riku its fine, besides you don’t look very threating with your hair sticking out every-which way and shirtless.” The wizard said with a smirk.

            Riku made his Keyblade vanish, looked at Yen Sid, “What is he doing here?” He asked while trying to stifle a yawn

            “I brought an antidote for Lea.” Isa said calmly.

            “Wait antidote? What antidote? Why does he need an antidote?” Riku asked franticly, “Master, what didn’t you tell us?”

            “I’m sorry I hid this from you; however, for Kairi and you to heal quickly, you could not be troubled.” The wizard looked apologetically and the silver-haired boy. “Lea had been poisoned by Deadly Nightshade, but thankfully, Isa has given us a blessing.” He held up a small vile filled with pink liquid.

            “Well okay.” Riku said, not wanting to comment on the matter until his thoughts sorted out. “So I guess you and Lea are still buddy-buddy right?

            “Isa has asked that we keep this a secret, he does not want Lea aware that he was here. Now, Buford!” The wizard called as the mop came running in. “Give this to Lea, it should cure him.” He handed the small vile to the mop. “Now shall we see if it works?” He asked gesturing to Isa and Riku.

            Riku nodded and followed Buford into the room, Master Yen Sid in tow as Isa disappeared into a corridor of darkness. Buford propped Lea up into sitting position and put some pillows behind him. He then coaxed his mouth open and drop by drop, so as not to choke him, poured the contents of the vile in Lea’s mouth. After a few drops, Lea became conscious and weakly grabbed the vile from Buford, chugging the rest of the pink liquid. As he finished, he recoiled at the taste. “What the hell was that, Pepto-bismol?”  He said quietly. Buford handed him a glass of water, which he drank happily and then nodded his thanks to the broom. “So who do I have to thank for the cherry nightmare.” Something flickered in his eyes as he said nightmare, but he shook it off.

            Riku looked at Master Yen Sid secretly wishing he would tell Lea the truth about his friend, but being the wise man he is he said, “A small apothecary in a remote world is to thank.” he smiled warmly at Lea.

            Riku sighed and said, “We’re glad you’re okay.” The silver-haired boy gave the redhead a smile.

            Lea let out a yawn and his eyes drooped, Buford let out a series of jingles and drum beats. Master Yen Sid interpreted, “He says that now you need to rest, and that when you wake up next you will be completely healthy.

            Lea nodded and let out another yawn, “One thing,” He said while yawning, “Is the knife wound gunna scar? ‘Cuz that would be kinda cool.” He yawned once more, and his emerald eyes closed contently.


	17. Chapter 17

Emerald eyes opened to the scrutinizing gaze of a certain red headed teenage girl, she smiled as his eyes adjusted to the light in the room. “You know,” Lea said “I know I’m nice to look at, but it’s easier to just take a picture. I’ll even autograph it for you sometime.” He smirked and sat up, Kairi reached to help him but he shook her off, sitting up against the head board of the bed, the blankets fell off of him, revealing his naked torso. “Woah! Kai, you didn’t undress me while I was sleeping did you?” He asked with a wink.

            Kairi laughed and rolled her eyes at him, “Don’t flatter yourself.” She said as she walked over to the wardrobe and threw his shirt and pants at him, the pants landing at the foot of the bed, and the shirt smacking him square in the face. “There are your clothes, Riku is making some breakfast, so get ready and meet us in the kitchen.”

            She began to walk out, but Lea called after her, “Hey! Do you know where they got the antidote from?”

            “Yeah they said from some herbalist in a remote world, I didn’t even know you were poisoned until they told me you were all better.” She shrugged and continued “Why does it matter anyway? You’re _alive,_ and that does matter.” She smiled at him one last time and walked out of the room.

            Lea sighed and got out of the bed, _Why do I feel like that is a lie, who really made the antidote?_  Lea thought to himself as he pulled his pants on. _Then again, Kairi is right, it shouldn’t matter, I’m alive._ Lea grabbed his shirt off of the bed and walked out of the room. When he got into the hallway, he could smell bacon and pancakes coming from the kitchen; however, instead of turning right, towards the kitchen, he opted left, towards his bedroom.

            He opened the door to his room and smiled at the smell of cinnamon coming from the candle he had permanently lit. He tossed his shirt towards the hamper in the corner and walked towards his bathroom. He closed the door and turned the shower on scalding hot, he felt disgusting, and really wanted to shower before joining the living again. While waiting for the water to heat up, he looked at himself in the mirror. Let’s just say he was glad that he had chosen to take a shower. _I look like hell!_ He thought. The reflection looking back at him looked quite pathetic.

            His red spikes were completely deflated, now hanging straight, his hair reached the middle of his back, it would have been pretty except the strands were greasy and stuck together. His face was a little pale, his cheeks sunken in, but his emerald eyes still held their sparkle. He looked at his torso, it was peppered with scars he had received with his years of fighting; however, from lack of enough calories, he was bone skinny, not that he was ever too plump, but know you could see the outline of his ribs, and his ab muscles were more defined. _Great, I skip a few meals and get a six pack._ He turned to examine the wound Larxene had given him, in the center of his back, was a small scar, where her knife had punctured his skin.

            Steam now coating the mirror, he turned away from his reflection and pulled off his pants and underwear, tossing them into the corner. He stepped into the shower, the water burning his skin, he loved it. It wasn’t easy for him to burn, and he took advantage of that, grabbing his soaps, he began to wash himself. As he finished, his stomach growled loudly. “Yeah, yeah” he muttered shutting off the shower. He grabbed the towel off the rack next to the shower and dried himself off. Now that his hair was clean, his normal spikes began to form, sticking up as they air-dried. Lea pulled on a pair of sweats, and walked out of the room, towards the kitchen. His stomach couldn’t wait.

            As he walked to the kitchen, he noticed that Master Yen Sid wasn’t sitting at his desk like he normally would be. Lea shrugged and continued to the kitchen. “Finally!” Kairi said as he walked into the room. “Riku is almost finished with breakfast, what took you so long?” She asked tipping her chair back.

            “I showered.” He said simply walking over to the fridge.

            “Do you have to walk around here shirtless every chance you get?” Riku asked as Lea pulled the orange juice out of the fridge.

            “Why? Is it distracting you?” He said smirking as he gave Riku a sexy pose. Kairi giggled and Lea winked at her as Riku rolled his eyes and went back to cooking instead of responding.

            “Lea you’re being awfully naughty today.”

            Said red-head smirked and poured himself some orange juice. “I have to be,” He said, “I’m making up for the days you had to be deprived of my awesomeness.”

            “You are so full of yourself.” Riku said smiling at the obnoxious red-head as he handed Kairi a plate of food, and then setting one on the table for Lea.

            “I’ve been told that all my life, it never gets old.” He said sitting down and began tearing into his food. Riku again just rolled his eyes and opted for silence as his response. Lea imitated Riku’s facial expression, exaggerating it to look much grumpier. Kairi laughed at his antics.

            “Don’t encourage him Kai!” Riku nearly whined as Lea continued to imitate Riku, adding in an inappropriate jacking off gesture. Kairi’s giggles heightened as Riku noticed, “LEA NOT AT THE TABLE.” At this, Kairi snorted, and Lea lost it laughing and gripping his sides, Riku eventually joined in. As Mickey, Donald and Goofy, happened upon the scene, they smiled, not knowing the joke, just smiling at the three friends laughing.

            “Gosh! Lea, you’re up and moving! That’s great!” Mickey said as their laughs died down.

            “Yeah and he’s being mischievous!” Riku said chuckling still. Lea wiggled his eyebrows at him in response.

            Donald laughed at the red head and quacked, “It’s great that you’re awake and feeling so well!”

            “Ahuck! Yeah Donald’s right! We thought we thought we were gunna lose ya!” Goofy added.

            Lea smiled at the animal trio and said, “Naw it’s gunna take more than that to get me down!”

            “Well that’s just swell!” Mickey said with a laugh. “We’ll be talking to Master about what our next move should be, join us when you’re done eating!” With that, the trio cheerfully walked into the next room leaving Lea to his shenanigans with Kairi and Riku.

            “Gwarsh, they sure sounded like they were having fun.” Goofy said sitting on a chair in the corner of Yen Sid’s study.

            “You said it!” Donald quacked sitting on the arm of Goofy’s chair.

            Mickey smiled and looked at the wizard, who was no longer absent from his chair. “So what’s our plan now?”

            The old wizard smiled at the little king. “Well, it’s the same as the old plan. Kairi and Lea will continue training, Ienzo has agreed to continue perfecting the machine that will allow us passage to the dark realm, where we will rescue Aqua.”

            “Machine?” Riku asked as he, Kairi, and Lea walked into the room.

            “Perfecting?” Lea.

            “Aqua?” Kairi.

            “Yes, Aqua was one of King Mickey’s friends, who stopped Xehanort the first time.” Yen Sid said answering Kairi’s question. “I’m sure that she is one of our lights. And Ienzo, has made a machine that can open portals to other worlds, without the use of the Keyblade.” Answering Riku. “And the machine can transport people successfully anywhere, including the dark realm, where we believe Aqua is, but however many bodies go through, must come back. If two go, then two must return. That is what Ienzo is attempting to perfect.” Answering Lea’s question.

            The three stood in silence for a while before Lea pieced things together and asked, “Do the bodies that go through and come back have to be alive?”

            “What kind of question is that?!” Riku asked Lea in shock.

            “Don’t worry, it’s nothing morbid, I was just thinking that if two have to go to save this Aqua, but only two can come back, we could use one of Even’s leftover bodies that were meant for the Replica Program. We send in a rescue team, along with the synthetic body, ditch that and bring Aqua back in its place.” Everyone stared at him for a while before Mickey broke the silence.

            “Lea! That’s brilliant! We should contact Even and Ienzo and see if it will work!” Master Yen Sid nodded and walked into the next room.

            “Wow Lea… I didn’t know you could be so… perceptive.” Riku said

            “Well, I’m not just eye candy.” Lea said mischievously giving Riku a wink.


	18. Chapter 18

"Here we go." Aeleus said putting the empty shell of a body next to Ienzo.

"Perfect." Ienzo chirped as he turned to Riku, "This is Aeleus, you knew him as Lexaeus."

Riku nodded as he looked at the myriad of lab equipment that cluttered Ienzo's small work area. "Yeah, I remember." He looked at Aeleus, "Sorry for… uh.. well… killing you." He scratched the back of his neck feeling quite awkward. Aeleus simply nodded and gave him a small smile. Riku smiled in return and looked toward Ienzo, the small slate-haired watched the exchange with a small smile. "Well Ienzo, shall we see if this works?" The plan was for Ienzo to take himself and the empty body to Wonderland, using the machine, and Riku would meet up with him. Ienzo would ditch the body, and take Riku back in its place, proving Lea's plan.

Ienzo nodded and tried, unsuccessfully, to lift the lifeless doll over his shoulder. After a few failed attempts, Aeleus smiled and took pity on the smaller man. He easily picked up the body and slung it over his shoulder, "Looks like I'm coming along too."

Riku laughed at the look of embarrassment on Ienzo's face and simply nodded to Aeleus as he opened a Keyblade portal to Wonderland. He stepped through, and found that he was standing just before the opening of the Queen of Hearts' maze, where they had planned to meet. A few short seconds later, Ienzo and Aeleus appeared, apparently in mid- conversation, "I get who Julius Caesar is, but what are the ideas of March?" Aeleus asked

"No, no, no, it was the  _Ides_ of March, the middle of the month, and it was that day that Caesar was ki-" Ienzo stopped mid-sentence, while sniffing the air. "Do you smell that?" He asked looking at Riku, "Something doesn't smell right…"

Riku tilted his head and also sniffed slightly, "It smells like a heartless, a big one."

Aeleus set the body down, "Should we go after it?" He asked.

Riku nodded, "Yeah we'd better, just so it doesn't cause the residents of this world any trouble." He sniffed the air again and turned away from the maze following the smell of the heartless, with Aeleus and Ienzo in tow. Riku turned to follow a path through the woods of tall mushrooms and tall flowers.

"Did we shrink?" Aeleus asked

Ienzo nodded, "Either that or, this is just the natural state of the foliage in this world." Aeleus nodded accepting the answer, and they were silent once more. However, Riku decided to break the silence by asking a question that had been burning in the back of his mind for a while now.

"Do you guys hate Lea as much as the others who were at Castle Oblivion do?"

Ienzo was the first to answer, "No, I don't hate him at all. I mean, we were Nobodies, and that was the only thing that linked us all to the Organization. I wasn't surprised that he killed Vexen, or that he had your Replica kill Zexion. I assumed he and Saix had some plan to reach the top the ranks, and eliminating us was the only way to do it."

Aeleus simply said, "He was never a threat to me, and as a teenager, he was quite fun to throw out of the castle." Riku laughed imagining the giant throwing a scrawny Lea out of the castle in Radiant Garden.

Ienzo sniffed, then sneezed, "I think," he sneezed again, "the heartless is getting closer." After Ienzo mentioned it, Riku also sneezed, the heartless smelled like darkness and… well daisies. They soon came across the clearing where the heartless was, it was rather large, however, it had four trunk-like legs and a stem for a body, and its head was the center of a daisy.

"Well… that's slightly comical." Riku said summoning his Keyblade. Before he had a chance to attack, the heartless disappeared, and a pink heart floated towards the sky. In the heartless' place, was… a pair of scissors sticking out of the ground. Riku raised his eyebrow and looked around for the scissor thrower. He spotted the thrower atop a mushroom, it was a rather tall man wearing black pants and leather boots, a burgundy shirt with a silver vest adorned with vine patterns, a long black coat, and a Victorian styled top-hat. Had Kairi been here she probably would have squealed at how handsome he is, Riku thought. Next to the man with the Hat, stood a shorter figure, with brown boots and tan pants, a gold silk shirt and red vest, the odd thing about this man was his skin, it was a grayish gold color and… it glittered. "Who are you?" Riku called out.

"Us Dearie?" The gold man asked, voice so high it sounded like a chirp. "Just passing by, not from this world, just like you I suspect." As he spoke he hopped from the tall mushroom to shorter ones, until he was on the ground, the man with that hat followed. The gold man walked toward them, Riku still gripped his Keyblade as a precaution. "How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself!" The man bowed and chirped out his name. "Rumplestiltskin." He stood straight once more and gestured toward the other man who was picking up the scissors in ground. "This, is Jefferson, he is an acquaintance of mine, and helps me travel from world to world."

"How?" Ienzo asked. Rumplestiltskin looked his way.

"Well with his hat of course." He said like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Riku took control of the conversation again, "Well, Rumplestiltskin, Jefferson, I'm Riku, and this," He pointed to Ienzo, "is Ienzo, and this is Aeleus." He pointed to the giant. "You're right in suspecting that we aren't from this world."

"Oh I'm always right Dearie." Rumplestiltskin chirped.

"You sound like someone else I know." Riku said.

"Rum, we should go about our business." The other man, Jefferson said.

"Yes, of course." The gold man said, "Well Riku, Ienzo, Aeleus, it was nice meeting you." Then looking straight at Riku, "I feel like we may meet again in the future." He thin let out a high-pitched giggle, turned on his heel and followed Jefferson out of the clearing, towards the Queen's maze.

"Do you think they mean trouble?" Aeleus asked.

"No, I think if they really meant trouble they wouldn't have wanted anyone to see them." Riku said.

"Any who, let's see if Lea's plan works." Ienzo said, "Now, Riku grab my shoulder." Riku did as he was told and watched Aeleus do the same. Ienzo pressed a few buttons, and they found themselves back in Ienzo's lab.

"It worked!" Riku exclaimed.

"Indeed, shall we go report back to Yen Sid?" Ienzo asked as Aeleus nodded to them and walked back to his room in the castle.

Riku nodded and opened a portal with his Keyblade. They stepped through into Master Yen Sid's study to find Lea and Kairi playing a game of checkers on the floor and Yen Sid reading a book in his chair. "Shouldn't you two be training?" He asked the two red-heads. They smiled at him and Lea said, "Naw, Master Yen Sid said we only had to train for an hour, so we did." Riku shrugged and walked over to Master Yen Sid's desk.

The wizard put the book down and asked, "Did it work?"

"Riku nodded, yeah we should be able to get to the Realm of Darkness and back without any trouble now."

"Excellent, because you and Lea are going to draw straws to decide who goes." Riku could have sworn he literally saw Lea's ear's pick up at the mention of his name.

"Why draw straws?"

"Because, in Wonderland, two thieves have been caught, however, I feel that these two can be useful to us, so I will send one of you to Wonderland with Kairi, to save them, and the other to the Realm of Darkness to retrieve Aqua."

"Uh oh," Ienzo said, "I think those two did mean trouble."

Riku nodded and said, "Maybe they meant for us to see them though, maybe they had every intention of getting caught." Ienzo nodded in response.

Lea asked, "So, when are we deciding?"

"Well, immediately." Yen Sid answered as Steve the mop brought in two straws, "The one with the shortest goes to the Dark Realm."

Riku and Lea nodded, each taking a straw from Buford.

XxXxXxXx

"Why, again, did we let the guards catch us?" Jefferson asked twirling his hat on his finger while lying on the floor of the jail cell.

"So we could gain new allies Dearie."

"And we want new allies because…?"

"Because one day, not anytime soon, they will need something from me, and that deal, is one of the most important I'll ever make." Rumplestiltskin twittered.

Jefferson sighed at the Dark One's vagueness, and just went along with whatever went on in that damned head of his.

XxXxXxXx

Riku looked down at his straw, and he heard Lea sigh and say, "What does this Aqua girl look like?"

Lea, had indeed drawn the short straw. Riku was a little relieved, he wasn't too keen on going to the Realm of Darkness, nor, he realized, leaving Kairi alone with Lea.

"She is a tall young woman, with short blue hair, there shouldn't be too many people down there to get her confused with." Master Yen Sid answered. Lea nodded and looked at Ienzo.

"Are you coming too?"

"No, I have no desire of going into the Dark Realm, I will, however, instruct you how to use the remote to the machine, so you can get yourself and Aqua home." Ienzo replied.

As Ienzo filled Lea in on the remote's controls, Riku told Kairi about the two men they had met in Wonderland.

XxXxXxXx

 _How long have I been here_ , she wondered. Her blue eyes, somewhat glazed over, stared out at the dark ocean before her. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine the small world she had met two little boys on so long ago. She closed her eyes and pictured the pair, the rambunctious brunette,  _What was his name?,_  Oh yeah, Sora, the one who was so much like Ven. And then there was the other boy, the one like Terra, Riku was his name. He was so serious, it made Aqua laugh.  _I wonder if he's changed after all these years._  She asked to no one in particular.

"HELLO! AQUA!"

 _Who is that? Is someone calling me?_  She sat up, not ever remembering lying down. She looked around and saw someone walking down the path towards her. The first thing she noticed was his bright red hair. As he got closer, she noticed that he was rather tall, and a little skinny, he wore black boots with black pants, a black tank top with a red vest over it, and a yellow and brown checkered scarf around his wrist. As he got even closer, she stood, wanting to be on her guard, in case he meant harm.

His long legs carried him to stand right in front of her. He smiled at her, his green eyes sparkling. "Are you Aqua?" He asked.

She nodded, "Who… Who are… you?" She asked struggling to use her vocal chords, which haven't been used for quite some time now.

"I'm Lea, I'm an apprentice to Master Yen Sid, he sent me here to bring you home."

"Can I… trust… you?" She asked just as slowly as before.

"Yes, you can, I promise."

"Prove it."

He smiled, "Well, I knew Ven."

Her faced brightened at that. "Is he awake?" She asked hopefully.

"Well, no, but Sora's working on it."

"Sora, you know Sora?" Lea nodded in response. "Then, I'll go with you, but just one question, how long have I been down here?"

Lea tilted his head to the side thinking about what Xehanort had said. "About twelve years."


	19. Chapter 19

            Green eyes met gold. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t call you out, one reason why I shouldn’t tell Xehanort what you’re up to?” Xigbar asked as he stood in front of Isa, who was sitting in the Grey Area reading a book until the older man decided to interrupt.

            “What are you talking about?” Isa asked nonchalantly, not even looking up at the sharpshooter a second time.

            “You know what I’m talking about.” Xigbar smirked cockily, taking the book from Isa, “Come on, your little game has ceased to be fun, _I~sa._ ” Isa sighed and chose to stay silent while reaching for his book. “No, no.” Xigbar said holding the book out of Isa’s reach. “Come get it _Isa._ ”

            “Xigbar, you know that name ceased to have any meaning a long time ago. I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Isa said standing up as if to challenge the older man.

            “Well you do now, or else I’ll tell the boss what you’ve been up to with little Sora.”

            “My interactions with Sora are for the good of Xehanort’s goals, he needs seven keys of Light, by leading Sora to Ventus, I’m accomplishing just that. Sora will wake Ventus up and no doubt they plan to rescue that girl.” Isa said taking his book back from Xigbar as he talked, and began walking away.

            “Sure, _that’s_ your intention, Luna.” Xigbar muttered as Isa made it to the hallway that lead to their rooms, however, Isa wasn’t heading towards his room. Instead, he headed further down the hallway, and up a flight of stairs to Xehanort’s study. The man who had recently been Ansem the Wise’s apprentice, was made whole again once Ansem and Xemnas were destroyed. Xehanort spent most of his time in the study, leaving Xigbar and Isa to do most of the work.

            When Isa reached the study, he knocked and waited for Xehanort’s consent. When the reply came, he opened the door and saw Xehanort sitting at a desk, in an office chair facing away from Isa and towards a window. “What brings you here Isa?” Xehanort’s voice sounded different, Isa couldn’t describe it, it was softer than Xemnas’ and Ansem’s, but…more vibrant? Isa shook his head, the small change in voice and the use of his name was the only thing Isa needed to know that he was talking to the right person. Isa walked over to Xehanort’s desk and sat, no, more like plopped into the chair opposite Xehanort.

            “Xigbar is getting suspicious about my visits with Sora.” Isa said investigating the room further, he had never really been able to look around. The times spent in here with Xemnas had been far and in between, and were usually filled with tension. However, Isa felt completely at ease as he examined the bookshelves that adorned the walls.

            “Let him be, so long as I know how to hide my thoughts, it won’t be a problem. He was a fool to think that he could control so many bodies at once without something slipping past him. I’ve managed to make him believe that I’m still suppressed within his mind. So long as I can do that, then you are safe as well Isa. I can feed him false memories for Saix if I need to, but we’ve done enough to prove your loyalty, that that won’t be a problem. Memories of our working together to find the Chamber in Castle Oblivion, while I was Xemnas, are completely lost to him. I’ve managed to gain small amounts of control where they are needed. Which reminds me,” the silver haired man turned towards the bluenette, “I never thanked you for helping me find my friend Isa, had it not been for your idea, we would have never found the chamber. What a strange concept, the Castle changing so much, but keeping the original layout to those who knew it before it was transformed. I could close my eyes and walk to the Great Hall without any obstacles, even though I’m passing through walls, fascinating.” Blue eyes as opposed to their normal amber stared and Isa filled with wonder, and Isa had to smile at the curiosity in them, for it was curiosity that got the both of them in this mess.

            “Of course, I’m glad I could help, I just wished we could have kept Lea in our plans.” Isa said a little crest-fallen.

            “I know, I would have liked to keep him as well, he had and independent mind that could have resisted Xehanort as easily as we do, but Xemnas pushed him too far out of out of our grasp.”

            “Well it isn’t so easy for me, however you’ve had years of practice.” Isa said with a smile.

            The man laughed and said, “You’re right Isa, I have, but you’ll get better, and you’ll be safe as long as you’re with me. And don’t fret about Xigbar, if he tells anything to Xehanort, he won’t be believed.”

            Isa stood, feeling that their conversation had reached an end, “Thank you, Terra.” He said as he walked out of the room.

XxXxXxX

            “Are you sure you’re okay?” Lea asked as he walked with Aqua around the Dark Realm, she had wanted to get used to using her legs again before they went back, and who was he to tell her no? Aqua’s legs almost gave out again, and Lea reached out to steady her once more.

            She shook him off again and said, “Yes, I’m fine I promise. I’ll let you take me back soon.” She began to walk again. Lea stayed close to her to make sure she didn’t hurt herself.

            “Are you sure about that Blue-bird? Because to me it looks like the more you walk, the more exhausted you become.” She fell once more, Lea caught her, and this time she didn’t push him away.

            “Maybe you’re right.” She said admitting defeat. She allowed Lea to carry her over to a boulder sitting by the shore. He sat her down and took out the remote and began pushing the buttons to get them home.

            “When we get back, you should sleep, we’ll fill you in once your mind is in a well enough state.” With that he picked her up again and pressed a button. They found themselves in Yen Sid’s study, the old wizard was sitting behind his desk reading when he saw the two of them arrive.

            “Master Yen Sid…” Aqua said sleepily in Lea’s arms.

            “Welcome home Aqua.” Yen Sid said smiling. Aqua smiled sleepily at the word _home_.

            Lea readjusted her in his arms, and said, “She’s kind of a dead weight right know, is there a room I could put her in so she can sleep?”

            Master Yen Sid closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. He nodded, “Now there is, there is a room across the hall from Kairi’s now, put her in there. Lea nodded and began walking towards the room.

XxXxXxX

            “So, these guys we’re gunna save, are you sure they’re friendly?” Kairi asked as she walked next to Riku. They were in Wonderland, walking through a forest of flowers as tall as trees.

            The silverette shook his head, “I don’t know, they weren’t from this world, but they had the ability to travel between worlds, well one of them did, with his uh… hat.”

            “His _hat?_ ” The small red-head asked ducking under a leaf.

            “Yeah.” Riku said scratching the back of his head, “I didn’t really ask for details.” Kairi hummed in response, and they kept walking in a comfortable silence.

            The silence was short-lived, however, with Kairi’s short attention span. “Do you think Lea will be able to find Aqua ok?”

            Riku nodded, “I think he’ll be just fine. And he-” whatever Riku was going to say next was cut off by the sound of a giant heartless stomping the flower-trees ahead of them. It looked just like the flower heartless they had encountered last time, only bigger, and it wasn’t alone. Standing on the heartless’ back was a cloaked figure. “Kairi, get ready, we have trouble.” She nodded and they both summoned their Keyblades.

            “Well this is going to be interesting, long time, no see _Riku_.” Riku tensed at hearing the sound of the cloaked figure’s voice. _It can’t be, I destroyed him._ Before Riku could respond, the cloaked figure removed his hood revealing the face beneath, it was like looking in a mirror. Riku was staring at his Replica.


	20. Chapter 20

_“I went to a few new worlds after visiting Radiant Garden, met a lot of new people I never saw again.” Ven said. He was sitting cross-legged in the grass of his and Sora’s dream world. He looked up and all of the stars smiled down at him with a twinkle._

_Sora studied Ven’s face to fill the silence. He couldn’t get over how much the boy looked like Roxas, or rather how much Roxas looked like him. Everything, from the blond hair swept to the same side and the cerulean eyes that held a mischievous glint. But both of their faces held a more mature look, that Sora could never pull off, from having to grow up too fast._

_“After visiting Neverland, looking for Terra, I ended up coming back here,” He gestured toward the Castle. “to the Land of Departure. And the Master, he… he tried to kill me, saying that Xehanort wanted to use me to make the χ-blade by fighting Vanitas, and that I was… a threat.  Terra wouldn’t let it stand though, so he fought the Master. Xehanort had tricked Terra into killing the Master.” Ven turned his eyes toward Sora, they were sad, the usual glint replaced with tears. “Then, in the Keyblade graveyard, I met up with Terra and Aqua again. I… I asked them that if... if I had to fight Vanitas, for them to just… put an end to me.”_

_Sora stayed silent, waiting for Ven to continue. When he didn’t, “What happened then? Did you have to fight Vanitas?” he asked softly. Ven only nodded and a tear fell from his eye. “You defeated him though right? And then… your heart was too weak, so you found mine again. I hid away from the hurt. I’ve been protecting you, until you’re strong enough to be yourself again.”_

_Ven nodded again, “I’ve spent all of these years, with you. I helped guide you when you first received the Keyblade, and I’ve tried to help you ever since. I didn’t know what had happened to Terra and Aqua until you went to the Realm of Sleep, there, I heard Master Xehanort tell your friend Riku that… Terra was a puppet and that Aqua was lost.”_

_“Don’t worry though! We’ll save them! Together! I’ll get your heart back in your body! I promise.” Sora said grabbing Ven’s hand._

_Ven smiled at Sora, his eyes cleared of tears as they fell. “Thank you Sora, but do you even know how to do that?”_

_Sora’s smile drooped, but only a little. Then it grew even wider, “No, but I have a friend who can help! I’m sure of it!” Ven’s smiled grew wider, and Sora saw a new glint in Ven’s eyes, hope._

XxXxXxX

Sora woke up with Pickles lying on his chest, he stroked that cat contently for a while before hearing Roxas say, “ ** _So you’re really determined to help Ven aren’t you?”_**  Sora nodded.

“I haven’t given up trying to help you either you know. You should be your own person too.”

**_“What if that means giving up some of your memories? Important ones that you need?”_ **

“Well, I figure, I wasn’t always sleeping right after I defeated Ansem for the first time. Something happened where Namine had to put me to sleep. I if I could live without you before then, why can’t I now?”

 ** _“Yeah but only because Kairi made you human again after you became a Heartless.”_** That gave Sora an idea before he could tell Roxas though, the Nobody interrupted. **_“NO! Absolutely not! You can’t! What if it doesn’t work this time? Then what will you do?!”_**

“But even if it doesn’t work, I have three people trapped in me, Ven, Xion and you. It seems like a fair trade, me for you 3? And why wouldn’t it work again?” Sora said sitting up. Pickles was alarmed by the sudden movement and sprinted toward the other end of the bed. “Think about it Rox, I release my heart, and you, Xion, and Ven can be yourselves again. Then you just pick little heartless me and take me to Kairi!”

Roxas was silent for a while before replying, **_“I’m not going to be able to stop you am I?”_** Sora shook his head and he heard Roxas sigh. **_“Fine, but at least clear it with Isa!”_**

“I can’t wait, I don’t know when he will be back. I have to do it now!” He said jumping out of the bed.

**_“Why?”_ **

“Before I lose my nerve.” Sora said walking out of the small bedroom. “I’m gunna give you a list of things to do okay? You’ve gotta take me to Master Yen Sid’s tower, that’s where Kairi is, and don’t forget about Pickles! You’ve gotta take him too! And leave a note for Isa, so he knows and tell him that if this works, I’ll come back here in a week and we’ll catch up.”

 ** _“Sora.”_** Roxas said as Sora went into the room where Ven was sleeping. **_“You don’t have to. And how do you know that Ven’s heart will even leave you? It didn’t the first time.”_**

“But see, now I _know_ about it, I think that that will be enough.” Sora said looking at Ven’s sleeping face. Pickles had followed Sora into the room. The orange tabby pranced over to the sleeping boy and hopped into his lap, curling up and resting contently. Sora smiled at the simplicity of the cat’s life. “Remember what I told you to do Rox?”

“ ** _Yeah, I remember.”_** Before Roxas could get another word in, and before Sora could lose his nerve, the brunette summoned his Keyblade, and plunged it into his chest.

XxXxXxX

Roxas opened his eyes he was sitting on the floor in the Ven’s room in Castle Oblivion, he looked down at himself, he was wearing his usual black undershirt, with his white jacket and full length white pants. Looking around the room, he sees Xion sitting across from him, her eyes closed. She was still wearing her organization cloak. To his right, he saw Ven sitting on the chair still, but he was awake and petting Pickles. “He really did it.” Ven said. Roxas gave a nod and stood up. He looked around again searching for Sora’s heartless. He saw it sitting in the corner of the room, just a normal shadow heartless, pure black with glowing yellow eyes, but it looked _sad_. Roxas noticed that its little antennas were drooping as the heartless looked at the ground.

“Sora?” Roxas questioned, the little heartless responded to the noise by looking at Roxas. The heartless’ antennas popped back up and his little legs scurried over to Roxas. He kneeled to meet the little thing and patted it on the head. “You’re a lot quieter like this, you know that?” The heartless made a little noise almost as if to say “Yeah Right.” Roxas picked up the little thing and put him on his shoulder. He then walked over to Xion to wake her. He shook her shoulder lightly, saying her name a few times, before she finally opened her cerulean eyes.

“Roxas?” She asked her voice sounding a little scratchy.

“Hey you.” Roxas replied smiling as he ruffled her short black hair. She smiled back at him. Then he turned to Ven and said, “We need to get him to Yen Sid’s tower.” He pointed to the rambunctious heartless on his shoulder.

“Is that Sora?” Xion asks gesturing the heartless. Roxas nodded and pointed to Ven.

“And that’s Ventus.”

“Call me Ven.” He said getting up from the chair, holding Pickles still, he walked over to the two of them.

“You look just like Roxas!” Xion said as she began to stand. Roxas helped her up and nodded.

“Actually he looks like me, I came first.” Ven said, “But it’s because my heart was inside of Sora so long.”

“Oh.” Was all Xion said, not quite understanding. “So why is Sora a heartless?”

“He released his heart, to let all of us out too, but Kairi can fix him, I hope.” Roxas said as he began to walk out of the room. Xion and Ven followed. Roxas walked back to the bedroom that Sora had been using. Upon entering, he saw Isa sitting in a bean bag chair. Isa looked at Roxas, Xion, and Ven, as they walked into the room. His green eyes then rested on the little heartless sitting on Roxas’ shoulder, he sighed and said, “What did that little shit do now?”

Ven laughed and soon, Xion and Roxas joined in as well. Soon all of them were laughing, even Isa, as Sora’s entire personality was explained in that one question, ‘What did he do now?’ Roxas explained what Sora’s plan had been to get them all back. As he spoke, he walked around the room gathering Pickles’ things, remembering how Sora told him not to forget about the orange tabby. Ventus and Xion sat on the bed and listened to Roxas explain, and Sora’s little heartless ran over to Isa and sat in the bluenette’s lap. Isa patted the little thing’s head and listened to Roxas.

“Well, let’s hope Kairi is able to set him right again.” Isa said as Roxas finished speaking and gathering up the cat’s things.

“I hope so too.” Ven said and Xion and Roxas nodded in agreement.

“Well, we should get going don’t you think? We don’t know how long Sora can stay like that before it causes some damage.” Xion said.

Isa nodded in agreement and opened a Dark Corridor for the three of them. “There, use this, it will take you to the tower.” Ven and Roxas began to walk toward the portal, Ven holding Pickles and Roxas holding Sora, only Xion was a little weary to trust Isa, but with a look from Roxas, she followed after them carrying the cat things.

Once they were gone, Isa closed the portal and opened a new one, back to the World That Never Was. He walked through the portal and was standing in front of Xehanort’s study. He knocked and heard Terra’s voice tell him to come in. When he walked in, he found Terra sitting in a comfy chair in the corner, reading a book. “You were right,” Isa said, “Sora found a way to bring them back, Ven, Roxas, and Xion.”

Terra nodded and set down the book. “I knew he would.” Terra replied.

“So what now?” Isa asked

“Now, we let things unfold how Xehanort wants, and when the day comes that we face off with the Keyblade wielders, we’ll betray him. Hopefully, we’ll have enough people allied with us, within the organization, that we can give Xehanort quite the surprise.” Terra said smiling at the thought. Isa nodded and left the study, but the blunette failed to notice the one-eyed man hiding around the corner, who had just been listening at the door.


	21. Chapter 21

               Master Yen Sid was given quite the surprise when Ven, Roxas, and Xion entered his study through a Dark Corridor. He didn’t know what to comment on first, the fact that they were there, the Heartless Roxas was carrying, and currently petting, or the cat that had just jumped from Xion’s arms and was now curling itself around Lea’s legs, who had been sitting in the chair opposite Yen Sid talking about Aqua’s condition before the strange trio, plus pets, had arrived. The old wizard let out a knowing smile as he put two-and-two together. “Well, it seems that Sora has gotten himself into quite a mess.” He said rather amused by the hyperactive Heartless in Roxas’ arms.

            Lea’s emerald eyes widened in shock as he stared at his two former friends, friends he hadn’t seen since he was a Nobody, he felt a rush of mixed emotions, pain, relief, regret, and happiness. Before the smaller Nobodies, _If they can even be called that,_ Lea thought, could make a move, Lea jumped up from his seat, frightening the poor tabby, and engulfing Roxas and Xion in a bone-crushing hug.

            “Axel!” Roxas yelled out in relief at seeing his old friend, Xion did the same after she got over the shock that Axel remembered her, Namine had said no one would remember her. However, Xion wasn’t about to complain, she felt tears forming in her cerulean eyes as she returned Lea’s hug with as much force as he had used. At this point, Lea was also a blubbering mess, tears were falling from his emerald eyes, he could barely see through his wet lashes as he held Roxas and Xion.

            Roxas, not one for all of the crying, backed away from the group hug, smiling, and with tears in his own eyes. “Axel,” Roxas said again, this time softer, “Sora told me you were back, and that you can wield the Keyblade!” The blonde looked at Lea excitedly.

            Xion felt like she had missed something, “Wait, what am I missing?” the black-haired girl asked. Roxas told her briefly about Lea regaining his heart and gaining his Keyblade. “Wow!” Xion exclaimed, “You’ve been busy since we’ve been gone! But, technically, if you got your heart back, you would be Lea again right?” She asked.

            The red head smiled widely, “Yeah, but don’t worry about it! You can keep calling me Axel if you prefer!”

            The trio heard a small cough coming from Ven’s direction, they turned to look at the blond, “Not to interrupt the very heart-felt moment, but Sora and Pickles are having a fight.” The older blond gestured toward the other end of the room where Sora and Pickles were indeed engaged in some sort of Mexican- standoff, Pickles was crouched, ears pulled back hissing at Sora. Sora was also down in a defensive position. Lea stepped forward to stop them before they hurt each other, but that seemed to give Pickles the incentive he needed because before Lea got any closer, the orange tabby launched himself at Sora.

            Lea lunged forward to grab the cat, he missed and landed on his stomach. The cat was being quite ferocious, but Sora was putting up a decent fight. The little heartless managed to land a scratch on the tabby’s left side. It gave Lea and opening to grab the cat and pull it away from Sora before things got ugly. The tabby was none too happy to have been grabbed by this new stranger, the cat lashed out, managing to claw through the plaid button-up shirt Lea was wearing. The red head winced as the claws came into contact with his left pectoral muscle.

            “Hey knock it off!” Lea shouted at the tabby, putting his hand over the scratch that Sora had inflicted on the cat moments earlier. The cat screeched, but calmed down. Lea set him down and quickly picked up Sora, putting him on Yen Sid’s desk to avoid further conflict.

            “That was funny.” Xion said smiling widely.

            Lea smiled back at her, “I’m glad you think so.” He then turned to look at Ven. “I’ve met you before haven’t I? Back in Radiant Garden, before Isa and I…” Lea trailed off, not wanting to bring up a conversation about Isa.

            The brief display of pain that decorated Lea’s face upset Roxas. Roxas was faced with a dilemma, should he tell Lea that Isa had control over himself for periods of time, or should he keep quiet and let Lea believe his friend his gone. Roxas felt an uneasy feeling growing in his chest. _Jealousy_ , the blonde thought, if he told Lea about Isa, Lea would leave him and Xion to search for Isa. _That isn’t a bad thing,_ thought Roxas, _So why do I feel this way?_ However, Ven solved Roxas’ moral dilemma for him. “He’s alive you know, Isa.” The older blonde said looking at Lea.

            Lea gave Ven a small smile, “Yeah, but he’s been Norted…”

            “No! He has moments where Xehanort isn’t controlling him! He’s been helping Sora in Castle Oblivion, and he was the one who got the antidote for you when Larxene poisoned you!” Ven said excitedly, hoping that the news would make Lea happy.

            Lea’s confused look turned into one of absolute bliss, but that soon turned into a look of rage. He spun around to face Master Yen Sid, who had been sitting placidly the entire time, wondering how things would play out, Lea’s look of betrayal startled the old wizard. “You knew.” Lea whispered. His emerald eyes growing angrier by the second, “You knew!” This time he shouted.

            It wasn’t a question Yen Sid knew, but he answered anyways, “Yes.” The wizard said calmly.

            Lea’s face was contorted with a mixture of emotions, betrayal, sadness, and anger. “Why didn’t you tell me? What, did you think you were keeping me safe? I asked you before about Isa! You knew I wanted to save him! You knew I stilled cared, but you kept quiet anyway?! Why?!” Lea was screaming at the master now, but his questions were met by silence. “TELL ME!” Lea shouted bringing his fist down on the wizards desk. The impact startled Sora, making him jump and shrink away from Lea, his antennas drooping back in fear. Master Yen Sid stood silently, looking at Lea with a calm gaze before saying, “We kept it from you because we didn’t want you to go chasing after something that would only end in disappointment. Yes, Isa may be able to fend off Xehanort’s hold at times, but that will not last forever. He will only get worse, Xehanort will only, all too greedily, cast himself into the depths of Isa’s mind, and only further corrupting him! You must understand this, don’t go chasing shadows of the friend you once knew. By the time your paths’ cross, he will have forgotten you.”

            Lea stumbled backwards as if he had been struck. His face, now showing only pain as the master’s words sunk into his mind, poisoning every hopeful thought. He sat in the chair he had been using previously, and put his head in his hands. Ven began to say something, but Yen Sid raised his hand to silence him, the action missed by Lea as his body began to shake. Roxas knew was crying, and moved to comfort him, but again Yen Sid raised his hand stopping him. He did not stop the little heartless, however, as it made its way over to Lea. He hopped on the red head’s back and hugged Lea from behind, his small claw like hand combing delicately through the red spikes as Lea shook.

“Now, it is very good to see the three of you back and unharmed.” Yen Sid said, “However, Sora will have to wait until Kairi returns from a mission to be restored to his proper state.” Roxas, Xion, and Ven nodded. The wizard snapped his fingers and then began to speak again, “I just prepared rooms for you-” but was interrupted by the appearance of a slender blue-haired girl.

“Ven…” She called out tentatively, as if the blonde boy was an apparition that she wished not to scare away.

“Aqua!” Ven exclaimed. “You’re alright! I thought you were lost!” He ran over to his blue-haired friend hugging her a little too tightly. In the excitement of the moment, Lea brooded off to his room, with Sora in his wake.

“Ven! It’s wonderful to see you, but I can’t breathe!” The blunette said breathlessly, Ven released her and looked at her excitedly.

“This is great, now we just have to get Terra!” The blonde looked so excited, Aqua felt terrible as she said her next words.

“That’s easier said than done.”

“Well I know that! But we’re a team, there isn’t anything we can’t do!” Ven said enthusiastically. Aqua couldn’t help but nod.

XxXxXxXx

“What does he know? He doesn’t know for sure if Isa is so weak does he? Isa’s strong, if he can fend off Xehanort like Ven said, than surely he could be getting better at it?” Lea said pacing his room, Sora sat on Lea’s bed seeming to listen. Lea stopped pacing and plopped on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Sora climbed on the red-head’s chest, emerald eyes met small yellow ones. They seemed to say, “Why don’t you go find out?” Lea didn’t know if that was Sora’s true intent, but in Lea’s mind, it was enough incentive. He patted Sora’s head and moved him back to the bed. Lea stood up and took off his shirt that pickles had marked up, pulling on a dull gray one.

He then stood in the center of his room, and summoning his Keyblade, he successfully made a portal. He looked at Sora, “Don’t tell on me ‘kay?” in response, the little heartless jumped off the bed and scurried over to Lea, he hopped up and down several times at Lea’s feet. “What? You want to come?” Lea asked. Sora made a small noise that Lea considered a yes. He picked Sora up and said, “Alright, but where we are going, you’ve got to stay on my shoulder, and be quiet.” Sora nodded and clung to Lea’s t-shirt clad shoulder. Satisfied, Lea walked through his portal. Lea and Sora found themselves in Axel’s old room in the World that Never Was, but they weren’t the only ones there, a certain one-eyed sharpshooter had decided to snoop through Isa’s room.


	22. Chapter 22

“You assume I’m your Replica don’t you?” The Imposter asked, his voice nearly dripping with venom. “Of course you do, how stupid can you be? I am, in fact, _not_ your Replica. I am you.”

            The real Riku stared at the imposter for a second, the imposter’s hair was much longer, reaching past the middle of his back, his face looked older than Riku’s by a few years Riku gauged, and his eyes were a bright, sickly, yellow color.

            “Alright, I’ll bite, if you aren’t my Replica, then what are you?” Riku asked, keeping his entire body tensed to prepare himself for a fight.

            “I just said, I. Am. You.” The imposter said with a dangerous smirk on his face. Riku kept quiet waiting for him to elaborate. He was rewarded as the imposter went on, “How naïve are you to think that your timeline is the only one. There are infinitely many, for everyone, for every choice they make, there is a choice they didn’t. That choice, spawns just another path that their life could have gone. I come from a timeline where you chose, willingly I might add, to become one of Xehanort’s vessels. When Ansem still held your heart and influenced you, _you_ fought against him. _I_ did not, and I was greatly rewarded.” The other Riku gave a smile that made Kairi want to run and hide and forget she had ever seen him. To see Riku, looking like that was too much for her, she tightened her grip on her Key and stepped a bit closer to Riku.

            To Kairi’s dismay, the other Riku kept talking. “My timeline, however, was just another one of Xehanort’s failed attempts at recreating the χ-Blade. You see, after I became a vessel, and gave in to the darkness, I killed Sora and Kairi, eventually Lea too. That didn’t work for Xehanort because he needed all of you alive, so he abandoned that attempt. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t fit in perfectly here.

            “Would you like to hear how I killed your friends Riku? Well I suppose _our_ friends.” The imposter smiled and before Riku could cut him off, he continued, “Don’t you want to hear how they screamed? The pain they endured as I ended them? Kairi’s was rather quick, she gave up without much of a fight. However, it was a rather violent end for Sora, he was quite the… _squirmy_ little thing, ended up mangling himself while trying to avoid me. It would have been much quicker had he just stayed _still_. By the end, the poor thing was so bloody, so many wounds, it didn’t take long to end him after that, then I left his mangled, contorted corpse on the steps of Disney Castle. It was quite the sight.”

            Riku stood frozen as he heard himself talk, as he heard his other recount the story with so much… _glee_ made him sick. He wanted it to stop, but he could make his voice work, the most he got out was a whimper. Riku realized something, he was _afraid_ of what he had almost become. Looking at his other self, it disgusted him, but deep down, he felt a sense of euphoria, the part of himself that he locked away a long time ago, was _yearning_ for the events that the other described. It terrified him. Finally, he managed to shout, “Enough!”

            The other let out a laugh that made Kairi’s skin crawl, “Don’t worry,” he said, “I shall leave you now, you need not fear me until the final battle, however you should fear yourself.” And with that, the other was gone, surprisingly, taking the heartless with him.

            Feeling the threat leave, Riku sank to the ground and began to shake. “Riku.” He heard Kairi say. He turned to look at her and found that she had moved closer to him, kneeling by his side with her hand on his back and the other one griping her Keyblade tightly. “We should go, focus on what we need to do, forget about him.” Riku nodded and stood up with Kairi’s help.

            “Thank you.” He said quietly. She smiled at him and began walking, Riku followed, listening to Kairi’s constant chatter, trying to distract himself from what just happened, but he couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t.

XxXxXxX

            Sneaking into the Queen of Heart’s castle was easier than Riku thought, and breaking Rumplestiltskin and Jefferson out was even easier. “Look at this Jefferson! Our savior is none other than the boy we just met!” Rumplestiltskin giggled with glee.

            The other man, Jefferson, rolled his eyes, but remained silent.

            “Thank you my friend!” Rumplestiltskin continued, his odd eyes glimmering as he smiled. “Well, we’d better be off!” He twilled, and with that, he and Jefferson began to walk down the hall. “And don’t forget Dearie! If you ever need a favor, just say my name!” They disappeared around the corner.

            Riku sighed, “Well, let’s get back to Yen Sid’s.” Kairi nodded and followed him.

XxXxXxX

            “Alright, what the hell happened while we were gone?” Riku said looking around at the people gathered in Yen’s Sid’s study. “Who are you two?” He said pointing to Aqua and Ven. “And why are you two playing with a cat?” He asked pointing at Xion and Roxas, who were indeed in the corner playing with Pickles.

            “Riku, Kairi, how wonderful to see you’ve returned safely. The details of your mission can wait. This is Aqua and Ventus, Lea rescued Aqua as you know I sent him to do. And Sora, brought these three back.” Master Yen Sid said as he gestured to Ven, Roxas and Xion.

            “How?” Kairi asked.

            “The same way he released your heart.” Roxas said.

            Kairi looked at him, “You mean he’s a heartless again?” She asked sounding rather alarmed.

            Roxas nodded and handed Pickles to Xion, as he was clawing at Roxas’ jacket. “He was hoping you’d be able to fix him again. I warned him not to, but he didn’t listen.”

            “Well that’s Sora for you.” Riku said rubbing the back of his neck. “Where is he now?”

            “He followed Lea into his room, Lea was upset and I think Sora meant to try and comfort him.” Xion said.

            “Why was Lea upset?” Kairi asked taking a seat on the floor next to Xion so that she could pet Pickles, Xion set the cat in Kairi’s lap, so she could.

            “We kept some information from him that he felt he was entitled to.” Yen Sid said simply.

            “If you’re talking about Isa, then yes, he was entitled to that.” Riku said crossing his arms.

            The wizard frowned, “Riku you must understand Isa won’t be in control of himself much longer, Lea will only become distracted knowing that his friend isn’t completely gone, he will hold on to every bit of hope he can until it gets him killed.”

            Riku bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from lashing out at the old wizard. Kairi looked at Xion and Roxas a little confused. “We’ll explain later.” Xion whispered as Ven stood.

            “I’ll go get Sora.” The older blond said as he walked out of the room toward what he assumed was Lea’s room.

            Tension hung in the air, Aqua tried to clear some of it away by clearing her throat and standing. She extended her hand to Riku. “It’s nice to see you again Riku.”

            Riku shook her hand and said, “Right, you were the one who came to the islands all those years ago, after that other man.” Aqua nodded, but before she could further the conversation, Ven rushed back in.

            “Guys… Lea’s gone, he isn’t in any of the rooms, and neither is Sora.”

XxXxXxX

            “Well if it isn’t Little Red sticking his nose where he shouldn’t.” Braig said closing a drawer he had been looking through.

            “I could say the same about you.” Lea said calmly, he wasn’t afraid of the other man, even though he knew he should be.

            “You’re awfully calm for just having stepped into the Dragon’s Den.” Braig said as he took a few steps closer to Lea. He resisted the urge to back away from the older man, and instead planted his feet and crossed his arms. He felt Sora’s grip tighten on his shirt, and he felt him bury his face in the red-head’s shoulder blade.

            Before Braig could say anything else, the door opened. They had both been caught.

            “Xigbar what are you doing snooping through here?” Xehanort’s voice was decidedly calm. “And this is a surprise, what are you doing here _Lea?_ ” The emphasis the man put on Lea’s name made him want to flinch, but he kept calm and turned around to face Xehanort. He was different from what he had expected to see, this man, looked calm, and even approachable, when before, when Lea met him all those years before, he had made him want to cower in fear.

            “Xigbar, you are to leave here and _not_ to rifle through Saix’s things again. Understood?”

            “Yes sir.”  Braig said stiffly as he walked out of the room.

            “And you Lea, will follow me to my office.” Lea nodded and followed Xehanort out of the room, he felt Sora shaking on his shoulder.

XxXxXxX

            “Please sit.” Xehanort said, something had definitely changed in the man’s voice.

            Lea sat in the chair facing the desk. He heard Xehanort lock the door. At this point, Sora was practically whimpering into Lea’s shoulder. “There, there,” Xehanort said picking Sora up off of Lea’s shoulder and gently petting him, “I’m not going to hurt either one of you.”

            Lea shot up to grab Sora back, but he noticed that Xehanort’s eyes had changed along with his voice, they were blue. Lea immediately relaxed, and putting two-and-two together, he said, “Terra. You’re Terra.” At Lea’s voice, Sora stopped shaking, but stilled jumped from the other man’s gentle hold and back to Lea. Lea held Sora close and tried to comfort him.

            “You’re smarter than most people give you credit for.” Terra said with a smile.

            “Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.” Lea said sitting back in the chair smirking. “So you are Terra then?”

            “Yes, I am, I have been able to shut Xehanort out of my heart for periods of time.” Terra said sitting behind the desk.

            “So it’s true then? Isa can do the same?” Lea said leaning forward as Sora jumped out of his arms and onto the desk. He rifled through papers, his antennae standing up right again, now that he felt comfortable.

            Terra bit his lip before responding. “Yes, but you may not see him.”

            Lea felt his temper flare, but kept it in check. “Why?” he asked, his voice sounding raspy and strained.

            “I’m sorry Lea, I know you care about your friend, and he cares about he just as much, however, Isa cannot drop his guard. He has only just begun to fight Xehanort, and the emotion he would experience from seeing you may not have a positive effect on him. He may drop his defenses, letting Xehanort back in and exposing our goals.”

            Lea nodded. “And what are your goals?” he whispered.

            “To take the Organization down from the inside, the thirteen darknesses cannot fight your lights if we are fighting amongst ourselves. Now, you must leave before someone interrupts. And one more thing, please keep this secret from everyone. They mustn’t know or they could get in the way. Can I trust you with that Lea?”

            “Yeah, yeah you can, but they aren’t going to be very happy with me when they found out I kept this from them.”

            “Let’s hope by that time, this conflict is resolved.” Terra turned to Sora, who had climbed one of the book shelves. “Can I trust you to keep quiet Sora? For Ven’s sake?” Sora nodded and made a small noise. Lea stood up and reached for Sora.

            “Hop down from there! You could hurt yourself!” Sora jumped into Lea’s outstretched arms.

            “Goodbye you two, and I hope that the next time we meet, it will be under friendly circumstances.” Terra said smiling.

            “Of course, thank you Terra.” And with that Lea opened a portal and was gone.


	23. Chapter 23

Back in his room, Lea sat down on his bed. “Do I keep this a secret Sora?” He asked the small heartless that had curled into his lap, looking rather tired. Sora turned his bright yellow eyes towards Lea, his antennae drooping slightly. He gave a slight nod. Lea let out a sigh and said, “Come on, we better see if Kairi’s back.” With that, he put Sora on his shoulder and walked out to Yen Sid’s study.

            Kairi was sitting in the corner with Xion and Roxas playing with Pickles, Riku was lying next to them, his hands behind his head and eyes closed. Ven and Aqua had left the room and Yen Sid was sitting at his desk reading from a book. Sora jumped off of Lea’s shoulder and ran to Kairi. “Sora!” Kairi exclaimed, her blue eyes lighting up as she saw the little heartless.

            “You’re back!” Xion said. Riku opened his eyes and sat up, he looked a little weary.

            “Where were you?” Roxas asked, moving Pickles from his lap, to the floor.

            “Where indeed?” Master Yen Sid said standing from his chair, “Did it occur to you that you could have put Sora into danger by taking him with you? We don’t know how long he can stand to be like that. And what if you had gotten attacked, couldn’t defend him and he was taken?”

            Lea resisted the urge to tell the truth and said, “Relax, we didn’t go anywhere dangerous, we just went to Radiant Garden. Right Sora?” He looked at the little heartless who was now in Riku’s lap. Without hesitation, Sora nodded enthusiastically. _Thank you_ , Lea thought with relief.

            “Very well, Kairi, let’s hope you can change him back again without any problems.”

            Kairi nodded and took Sora from Riku’s lap, she hugged him and he was engulfed in a warm light, when it subsided, Sora stood in the heartless’ place. Yen Sid nodded and walked out of the room. Hardly anyone noticed, they were too excited asking Sora questions.

            “How did you bring Roxas, Ven and Xion back?” Kairi asked.

            “How did you know it would work? We could have lost you forever.” Riku said crossing his arms.

            Sora shrugged and sat next to them, “I don’t know, I just had a feeling everything would be ok, and it was.” He smiled wide as Pickles sat in his lap contently.

            “Well, we owe you Sora, that’s for sure.” Roxas said smiling.

Lea walked over to them, “Anyone else starving?” he asked.

“You’re always starving.” Riku said turning his aquamarine eyes toward the red-head.

Lea shrugged and then smirked at Riku. “You’re just jealous you don’t have my rockin’ bod.”

Riku snorted, “Yeah right, is that what your ego told you?” Kairi and Xion giggled while Lea began to walk to the kitchen.

“Fine, suit yourself, but when you slow pokes come into the kitchen and all of the food is gone, don’t blame me.” Lea’s eyes glinted mischievously.

“I’ll lock you in the fridge.” Riku said smirking at Lea. Lea laughed loudly and disappeared through the kitchen door.

“Uh, I’m not taking any chances, I want food. You guys should hurry too.” Sora said as he ran to the kitchen. The others laughed.

“We already ate!” Roxas shouted after him.

“More for me then!” Sora shouted back walking through the kitchen door. Lea already had numerous cooking ingredients scattered along the counter.

“Hey, you want some pancakes?” Lea asked whisking some ingredients together.

“Sure!” Sora said cheerfully. His smile was replaced by a deep frown. “Are we bad people?”

Lea set the bowl on the counter and took a skillet out of the cabinet. “What for?” he asked turning the oven on. “For eating pancakes at dinner time?”

That brought Sora’s smile back. “No, for not telling about…”

Lea tuned his emerald eyes to look at Sora, “No, we are just doing what he asked us to. We can’t interfere.” 

Sora nodded, “But what about Isa?”

Lea flipped a pancake onto a plate before saying anything. “Do you want chocolate chips in your pancakes?” He asked taking some chips from the cupboard.

“Sure.” Sora said, leaving the subject about Isa alone.

XxXxXxXx

Twelve pancakes, an entire bag of chocolate chips, and a huge mess later, Sora and Lea went back to the study to find only Ven and Aqua playing a game of checkers.

“Hey.” Sora chirped happily.

Ven waved at them, but kept his concentration on the board. Aqua smiled and looked over at them. “How are you two?” she asked

“Great!” Sora said looking over Ven’s shoulder at the game. “You can double jump her.” He added pointing to the pieces.

“Oh!” Ven said, “I didn’t see that!” He moved his piece. Aqua smiled and double jumped him, leaving him with only 3 pieces, one of which was kinged, while Aqua still had 5, two of which were kinged.

“Oops.” Sora said.

“Yeah Oops!” Ven said hitting the back of Sora’s head. Lea and Aqua laughed at the two of them.

“I’m going to bed.” Lea said as he let out a yawn. “Goodnight you three.”

“Night!” Ven and Sora shouted together as Lea left.

“What if you move your kinged one there?” Sora asked pointing to an empty space.

Ven stuck out his tongue in concentration, “That might work.” He said considering the idea. Finally, he shrugged and moved his piece, allowing Aqua to double jump him again.

“SORA!”

“Oops.”

XxXxXxX

_He was alone, in a dark room. He couldn’t see anything. He tried to stand but slipped, the floor was covered in something wet, he brought his hand to his nose and gagged as overpowering smell of blood hit him. He summoned a flame in his hand and immediately wished he hadn’t. Blood was covering the floor, next to him was Kairi, her body frigid and mangled, and her eyes wide and empty, she looked like she had died terrified. He gagged and grabbed his stomach willing himself not to throw up. He reached forward and closed her eyes. He looked to his left expecting something equally as gruesome. He wasn’t wrong, Namine lay next to Xion, both just as mangled as Kairi. He couldn’t stop himself from throwing up this time, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tried standing one more time. He walked forward and nearly tripped over Ven, or was it Roxas? He couldn’t tell, the body was too distorted. He kept walking straight, trying not to look at the bodies that littered the room, he saw them in the corners of his vision though, he saw Aqua, Sora, Isa, and even Terra, the only one he didn’t see was Riku. As he walked he came to a door, it was locked. No problem, he summoned his Key and opened it._

_He stepped into a hallway, lit with torches and closed doors lining each side. Curiosity got the better of him and he put his ear up to the door on his left. He heard Xehanort’s voice, but it wasn’t quite him, but it wasn’t Terra either. “You cannot ease your pain, embrace it, embrace the darkness that has come to care for you, the darkness has always been there for you,_ **_I_** _have always been there for you.”_

_“What did you make me do, I killed them all, they’re all dead, WHAT DID YOU MAKE ME DO!” He stumbled away from the door as he heard Riku shout. Ever curious though, he listened to the door at his right._

_“Riku stop! What are you doing?!” He heard his own voice say. He shivered not liking how terrified he sounded, whatever was behind that door, he didn’t want to find out. He walked forward, he knew he would regret it, but he listened to the second door at his right._

_“You killed him! You killed Riku!” He heard Sora shout._

_Then Xehanort’s voice, but still not quite Xehanort said, “Of course I did, he refused me. Pity, he could have been so powerful.”  He stepped away as he heard Sora scream._ “What is going on?” _He thought. Not wanting to hear anymore, he continued forward, the hallway seemed endless, and the farther he got, the louder the voices behind the doors became. They demanded that he listen to each of them. He covered his ears and ran, still not reaching an end. The voices becoming unbearable, some shouting for Sora, others shouting for Riku or Kairi, a few for Ven or Aqua, and even some shouting for him, he ran until his legs gave out, but there was still no end. He tried to open a portal with his Keyblade, even with darkness, but he couldn’t escape._

_Panting he lay on the floor curled in a ball, trying to block out the doors. Finally, when he thought he couldn’t bear it anymore, it stopped. He opened his eyes, he was no longer in the dimly lit hallway, but now Castle Oblivion, the bright white walls blinded him for a few moments, but as his eyes adjusted, he saw that he wasn’t alone. Riku was sitting in a throne like chair, with a black shadow like figure behind him. His blood ran cold, he recognized it, he swallowed and looked around trying to find a way to escape._

_“No way out.” Riku said, but it wasn’t Riku, well it was but he was older, and looked much more **menacing**. He truly feared **this** Riku. “Figured it out yet?” The imposter asked, a twisted smile creeping onto his face, “Come on, you’re a smart boy, don’t make me spell it out for you.” _

_He stood up trying to prepare himself for a fight, but his clothes were still stained with blood, his ears ringing from the previous room, and his heart nearly leaping out of his chest in fear. “All of those doors…” His voice trailed off._

_“Timelines.” The imposter said, that smiled still painted on his lips. His features were like hard, cut porcelain, each expression carefully crafted and set. “Each door led to another timeline, it seems you’ve got quite the gift for transcending the limitations your body sets for you. This isn’t the first time this has happened to you. Don’t lie, I know. Last time, you met my pet here.” As if on cue, the shadow curled its tendrils almost possessively around Riku. “But that wasn’t the first time either, think back, think back to all of those horrible nightmares you’ve had, think back to the ones that came true, your parents being swallowed by the darkness, you saw that, you even saw yourself taken by it. You’ve seen other things as well, you’ve seen things that will never happen in your timeline, but they have happened. Your timeline is one of many, but your **gift** , if it can even be called that has allowed you to see many things you weren’t meant to see.” He tried to block out Riku’s words, but he couldn’t deny that they were true, ever since he was a boy he had nightmares, but he never thought them as anything else but nightmares, even after some came true, he disregarded them because it **frightened** him. “You’ve even seen your own **death** , but was it this timeline or another?” The imposter chuckled darkly. He shook his head._

_“Stop.” He said._

_“It is rather odd, why you? What significance do you possess? What makes you special enough to see these things? It is quite confusing, you aren’t at all important, yet because of your… **sight** , you’ve become quite dangerous to our cause. Xehanort is wondering if you can out smart us, but you can only do that if you can make sense of what you see, that’s why I’m here, to make sure the future stays muddled for you. To make sure you only see the **pain**. To make sure you won’t get in our way.” With that, the shadow leapt out at Lea, and then everything went black._

XxXxXxXx

            Lea bolted upright in his bed, his face and chest covered in sweat, his hands shook as looked down to make sure it was still only just a dream. Panting, he tried to calm down. He couldn’t ignore it this time, this _nightmare_ , if he could even call it that anymore. He looked at his clock, it was 3 in the morning, too early for anyone to be awake. He got up anyways and headed to the kitchen.

            Apparently he wasn’t the only one that couldn’t sleep, Riku was sitting at the table reading a book and eating some green jello. Lea gulped reflexively and got a glass down from the cabinet. “Can’t sleep?” Riku asked.

            “No.” Lea said, as he filled his glass with water, his voice hoarse.

            “Nightmares or something?” 

            Lea gulped some water down and thought, _you have no idea._ “Or something.” He said sitting at the table.

            “Wanna talk about it?” Riku asked, becoming a little concerned when he noticed how shaken Lea really looked. His red hair was tangled and disheveled like he had been tossing and turning, his eyes were red and he was shaking slightly.

            _What and tell you that I can see the future and some other weird shit? Or how about that in some timeline, or maybe sometime in the future you become an evil ass mother fucker? Yeah, that’ll go over well._ Lea thought. He shook his head, “What about you? How come you can’t sleep? Have a nightmare that you ran out of styling product?” Lea teased.

            Riku rolled his eyes, _well at least he’s well enough to tease me._ “No, I meat someone in Wonderland today, that’s all, he just… frightened me. That’s all.”

            Lea raised an eyebrow. “He… frightened you? Who was he?” Lea asked leaning forward.

            “See, that’s the thing… he was… me. At first I thought he was my replica, but then… then he said he was from another timeline…a timeline where I _gave in_ to Ansem instead of fighting him.”

            Lea tried his best not to look queasy, it wasn’t working. Riku noticed how much paler he had gotten, and he had started to shake again.

            “Have you seen him?” Riku asked debating whether or not he should wake up the medical broom.

            Lea nodded once, “Yeah, he uh… he was in my dream.” Lea was gripping the glass so hard Riku thought it was going to break.

            “So now you’re dreaming about me huh?” Riku smirked, but Lea only glared at him.

            “This is serious, he is one creepy ass piece of shit.” Lea said, still gripping the glass, Riku took it from him before he broke it. Lea’s hands were still trembling, and his breathing had become labored.

            “I think you’re in shock or something, what did he tell you?” Riku asked.

            “Nothing that you need to worry about.”  And with that, Lea got up and left the kitchen. Riku debated going after him. _He looks sick._ That decided it, Riku walked out of the kitchen, to Lea’s room. He didn’t bother knocking, he walked in to find Lea shivering in his bed. He put his hand to the red-head’s forehead, _a fever_ , _I should get help._

            “Lea? What’s wrong?” Riku whispered, not wanting to startle the red-head.

            “Just a nightmare, go away.” Lea said.

            “Lea, you look sick, whatever it was, it scared you.”

            “Get. Out.” Lea said a little more forcefully.

            “Lea-”

            “GO!” Lea shouted. Riku nodded and left the room, but he went to find Buford, Lea hadn’t looked good at all. Something was wrong, really really wrong.


End file.
